


Opus

by chickwen



Series: circle of fifths [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Big Gay Love Story, Break Up, Breaking Up & Making Up, But not big ones, Fluff, Happy Ending, Idiots in Love, Light Angst, M/M, Musical Instruments, Oikawa Tooru's Knee Injury, Pining Kageyama Tobio, Pining Oikawa Tooru, Post-Break Up, Pro Volleyball Player Kageyama Tobio, Pro Volleyball Player Oikawa Tooru, Pro Volleyball Player Ushijima Wakatoshi, Shenanigans, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Sort Of, Spoilers, There's A Tag For That, and yamakage broship, best friends that hate each other, kagehina broship, kind of not really but also kind of canon compliant, like the happiest ending possible, oikage, pining in general, poor humor that i think is peak comedy, realized this is kinda slow burn so, tsukkikage broship for the Win, ushikage broship, yachikage broship too, youll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:20:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 29,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21638731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chickwen/pseuds/chickwen
Summary: how they break up, how they make up, and what happens in the mean time.汉语译本这里由33ye完成。
Relationships: Kageyama Tobio/Oikawa Tooru, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: circle of fifths [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1541989
Comments: 185
Kudos: 445





	1. No. 1: Nocturne

_A-flat, E-flat, C, C, A-flat, E-flat, A-flat, C, E-flat, C, A-flat, E-flat, A-flat, C, E-flat—_

Tobio wrinkled his nose after his brain processed the arpeggios, knowing exactly which piece they belonged to, and looked down at his mother’s phone. The screen flashed with a familiar tune. _Daniel Barenboim — Liszt: Liebestraum, No. 1 in A-flat major, Nocturne “Hohe”_ glowed back to him in black pixels against a white background. How fitting. He pursed his lips and adjusted himself in the seat.

“Do we have to listen to this?”

He watched his mother blink in her reflection on the window. She angled her head towards him but kept her eyes trained on the road, her brows pinching in confusion. “You don’t want to listen to this?”

“No.”

She flicked her eyes to him this time, frowning too, “Why? It’s one of your favorites.”

“I don’t like it anymore.” he said flatly.

She narrowed her eyes, and Tobio shifted. Whenever she made that look it meant she was figuring him out. “But you were learning it.”

“I’m not learning it anymore.”

“Why?” she prodded.

Tobio frowned deeply and rested his head against the seat belt. He watched her again in the reflection, her head turned back to the road and her shoulders eased with a sigh. The soft sound of a piano still resonating through the speakers. He could feel the vibration of the sound thrumming through the plastic of the car door that his knee rested against.

“You were learning it for him, weren’t you?” she asked. This time she kept her head forward.

He the corners of his mouth dug into an even deeper frown. Tobio kept silent and didn’t say anything. Out of his peripheral, he saw his mother’s hand reach for her phone. The well developed knuckle where her thumb connected to her palm moved under her skin as she swiped to the next song. She then reached over and grabbed his tense fist resting above his knee. Her skin rippled once more as she rubbed comforting circles on the back of his palm. He remembered her doing the same thing when he was younger, but her hands were bigger than his then.

“It will get better, Tobio.” she said, “I promise.”

He let out a breath through his nose, the influx of air in his nasal cavity making his exhale audible, “Yeah.”

-

_Three weeks earlier_

Tobio sat on the dark wood of the Oikawa family porch. They weren’t sitting close to each other, a foot of space was left in between their knees and two cups of tea sat within that space. It was odd. Tooru usually made sure that they had as much body contact as possible. Eight months earlier, Tobio would have welcomed the space gratefully. But now he found himself being so accustomed to the touch that he found he missed it.

It was also silent between them. By now, Tooru would have started up a steady stream of chatter about college and some professor that was giving him a hard time. Instead he remained quiet and he looked almost nervous. All of these factors made Tobio feel uneasy.

He grabbed the cup, took a sip, and then cleared his throat. “Tooru, is something wrong?”

The brunet looked at Tobio, his strong brows set low into a furrow. It wasn’t uncommon for him to look like that, Tobio realized. Tooru was a chronic over thinker and usually found something to fuss over or to worry about. Tobio figured that the words to come next would be some sort of complaint about a project he had put off, but instead…

“I’m going to go overseas. For volleyball.” Tooru said.

Tobio raised an eyebrow, was that it? He shifted so that his body was angled more towards the brunet, “Yeah? You said that after you graduated you were going to.”

“Well, I changed my mind. I’m going to next year. San Juan in Argentina gave me an offer.” he clarified, pulling a leg up to hug it. He did that a lot when he was nervous, Tobio noted.

“Okay. That’s good right? I’m happy for you.” Tobio said earnestly.

Tooru sighed deeply and he scrubbed his face with his hand before he ran it through his hair, “Fuck. I— Shit…”

Tobio pinched his face in confusion and concern, “What’s wrong?”

“Tobio I… I don’t want to do long distance okay?”

He felt his expression pinch more, like a snagged thread bunching up the fabric of his face, “I don’t understand.”

Tooru cursed and tightened his grip on the leg he had folded into his person. He took a deep breath and looked Tobio in the eyes, “I’m saying we should break up.”

It felt like his heart had just dropped to his ass. The same feeling as when he played a wrong note in a loud chord, only worse. Like the ground had just vanished from under his feet and now he was falling. Tobio’s shoulders hiked up to his ears and he gripped the fabric of his jeans, “Sorry, you… you want to break up…?”

Tooru sighed again and his body drooped like wet fabric on tenterhooks, “Yeah.”

“I don’t understand.” he repeated, feeling emotions wrapping around his throat in a choke hold.

“It’s not you or anything you’ve done. Trust me. I just… You have to understand that this is a chance at my dream, okay? And I don’t want to focus on anything right now aside from my career. I think that right now I don’t want any distractions.” Tooru explained, his face a hard expression carved from distress, “Besides, you’ll be starting your third year soon and take it from me there’s a lot of stress in that. You don’t need me distracting you and I can’t have you distracting me. So please understand.”

Tobio was never a boy of many words. As a result, nothing he could manage would categorize his feelings into something as fickle as a sentence. Slowly, he nodded and smoothed out the wrinkles he had placed on his pants. He looked down and away from those brown eyes still managing to put a flutter in his stomach, “Okay…”

Tooru frowned and reached over but Tobio quickly pushed his hand away as he stood. The younger boy bowed formally, “Thank you for everything, Oikawa-san.”

“Tobio, don’t—” he started with a wince.

“Good luck in Argentina. Good bye.”

And with that, he left.

Silently, Tobio prayed that Tooru would jump up after him and insist that it was all a cruel joke that Tobio would yell at him for. Neither happened. So, as he shut the door behind him, Tobio felt an overwhelming sense of grief douse his body in a wash that left him feeling full of sadness.

-

“Tobi-tan, we’re here.” his mother said as she gently shook him.

He blinked and realized he had fallen asleep, he looked up and noticed they’d arrived at the grocery store. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and unbuckled himself.

As they walked towards the store, his mother gently set a hand on his elbow, “Tobio, are you okay?”

He looked down at the woman, her blue eyes and dark hair mirrored his perfectly. He nodded and looked away to the concrete under his feet, “Yeah. Yeah, I am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you can find me at [ @umchickwen ](https://twitter.com/umchickwen)


	2. No.2: Variations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tsukishima and kageyama are friends, believe it or not

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bit of a different feel from the first chapter and i'm not completely happy with it but honestly i think if i don't just roll i'll never post again. this was a total bitch to write but hopefully it's relatively enjoyable for you  
> 

Tobio yawned after he finished changing out of his practice clothes and sat on the bench of the Schweiden Alders locker room as he checked his phone, seeing new messages from Hinata. His phone those days usually found itself blowing up with notifications regarding Hinata. Since moving to Brazil for beach volleyball of all things (everyone had been shocked because _why_ to which his friend responded with _why not_ ), Hinata created a habit of sending pictures of everything that he found mildly interesting. From pictures of bugs to milk at the grocery store to his roommate, Tobio came to expect nearly everything. He opened his messages, expecting a picture of an ant colony, and instead felt his stomach tense with surprise. But apparently he had yet to expect this.

There, on his phone screen, were several pictures of Hinata with Oikawa, both making ridiculous faces. They looked to be at a beach with volleyball nets set up in the background. He furrowed his eyebrows and promptly replied.

_Sender: Kageyama Tobio_

_\- what the fuck_

Heavy footsteps neared him and a set of black and violet volleyball shoes entered his view. He looked up at Ushijima and they shared a brief look before Tobio sighed and pocketed his phone.

“He plays for San Juan in Argentina, correct?” Ushijima asked, grabbing his gym bag.

Tobio nodded and pulled his own bag onto his shoulder as well and headed out. It had been three years since they broke up, but there was still something awkward about seeing that picture. Something that made him feel like that bumbling teenager fumbling over his own emotions. Although he was only nineteen now and he could practically hear Hinata in his head telling him he’s still an idiot, he digressed. To further distract himself from his digression, he looked at his messages again.

_Sender: Hinata Shouyou_

_\- HE’S JUST AS COOL AS I REMEMBER_

_\- HE CALLED ME ‘SHOUYOU’_

_\- also… he said he was going back to Japan in 2 years_

Tobio raised an eyebrow.

_Sender: Kageyama Tobio_

_\- were you talking to him?_

_Sender: Hinata Shouyou_

_\- yeah, we played some beach volleyball together! he sucks at it lol_

_\- also he totally watches all your games_

Tobio felt odd about that. It wasn’t as if he didn’t watch all of Oikawa’s games, but he could never imagine Oikawa watching his games. He pulled at the hem of his jacket sleeve and hunkered down, curling over his phone screen as he typed out the next message.

_Sender: Kageyama Tobio_

_\- how is he doing?_

_Sender: Hinata Shouyou_

_\- oh? is this interest in Oikawa-san i hear?_

_Sender: Kageyama Tobio_

_\- shut the fuck up_

_Sender: Hinata Shouyou_

_\- sorry, sorry!_

_\- he’s doing alright i think. you know he got even taller! i didn’t think you could grow that much after high school! i think he’s as tall as Lev was in our first year, mayb even taller_

_Sender: Kageyama Tobio_

_\- you’ve just always been short_

_Sender: Hinata Shouyou_

_\- you haven’t grown much either!_

Tobio sighed and clicked off his phone.

-

It took a long time for Tobio to get over Oikawa. An almost embarrassingly long time. Roughly a year with interest, he spent it sulking before it was surprisingly Tsukishima who knocked the sense into him.

One day, over a routine study session to ensure that he could make it to the Tokyo training camps without having to have to go to remedial tests the days of, Tobio spent the majority of the time being wildly unproductive. He hadn’t even noticed it, that he just stared off into space while grinding his teeth and pulling at the sleeves of his volleyball jacket. At least not until Tsukishima succinctly flicked Tobio in the middle of his forehead through his bangs.

“Ow! What the fuck?!” Tobio grunted as he rubbed the sore spot.

Tsukishima ignored the glare sent his way and stared impassively at the setter, “Are you going to continue wasting my time by moping about your jerk ex-boyfriend or are you going to get work done so that we aren’t without our starting setter at the Tokyo training camps?”

Tobio pulled his nose up, “I wasn’t moping about him.”

“Yeah and Hinata is taller than me.”

“Hey! I’ve grown!” the redhead protested.

“Of course.” Tsukishima replied breezily, “But my question still stands, king. If you’re going to continue like this then I’d love for you to pack your things so I can go home.”

Tobio frowned deeply, “I’m not… It’s just… I can’t help it.”

The blond managed to look even more unimpressed than he usually did and Hinata frowned, “Kageyama-kun, I know it’s hard for you but it’s been, like, five months. I really think you should be feeling better about it by now.”

He couldn’t manage to say anything back,

Tsukishima inhaled deeply before he set down his pencil and folded his hands together in a way that promised Tobio he wasn’t going to like what he heard next. “Look, Kageyama, he’s not going to come back to you anytime soon. His being halfway across the world which should be enough to prove that. And neither does he bring any sense of joy into your life anymore, he only makes you miserable. So why don’t you stop letting his actions control your life and take a little initiative to get back to the things you love and the people that are around you now?”

“Yeah, your sets have sucked recently.” Hinata added.

While Hinata’s last comment pushed Tobio over the edge, it was mainly Tsukishima that made him realize what a loser he had been being. Since then, Tobio realized that Tsukishima ironically took a place as one of the most dependable people in his life. Which was probably why Tobio found himself eating biweekly lunches with him.

“What’s wrong?” Tsukishima asked as he daintily ate his soba, “You’re doing the hair thing again.”

“What?” Tobio replied eloquently, looking up from his own soba.

“You touch your hair a lot when you’re thinking about something.” Tsukishima explained.

“No I don’t.”

The look that Tsukishima gave him was one similar to a withered flower, golden eyes narrowing as if to ask _really_? A sigh followed suit, “I didn’t take the time out of my schedule to catch a train all the way here just to deal with you being an idiot.”

Tobio huffed and found his hand reaching up to touch his hair. He quickly set it back down on the table and ignored Tsukishima’s satisfied smirk. “It’s nothing.”

“Does it have something to do with the photo that our beach volleyballer sent literally everyone in Miyagi?” Tsukishima’s eyes light up with the word bingo at Tobio’s pouted silence. “How cute, fawning over the Grand Jackass again?”

“I am not. It’s been two years.” Tobio rolled his eyes.

“Just because you sleep around with basketball players doesn’t mean you’re over him.” Tsukishima pointed out plainly, a sinister simper on his lips.

Embarrassment rang red bells on Tobio’s cheeks, “That was one time.”

“Of course. Whatever you say, King.” Tsukishima placated with a not so placating smile.

Why did Tobio hang out with him?

“I hate you.”

“I never would have guessed.” the blond said as he ate more noodles.

“Hinata says he’s coming back in two years.” Tobio resigned to his fate. Tsukishima was the type to figure it out eventually, he’d rather be embarrassed now than later.

“Who?”

“Oikawa.”

“So it is the Grand Jackass you’re thinking about.” Tsukishima observed.

Tobio frowned around the noodles in his mouth, “Not like that.”

“For fuck’s sake chew before you talk.”

Just to piss him off more, Tobio chewed twice with his mouth open.

“I hate you.”

“I never would have guessed.” Tobio quipped.

Tsukishima narrowed his eyes in an almost disgusted manner before he sighed tiredly in a way that he did often around Tobio, “He’s petty, isn’t he?”

“What do you mean?”

Tsukishima gave him one more long suffering look, this time it read _are you an idiot_. “Going to another country to start his career, then coming back to Japan. Seems like he’s got something he’s trying to prove. That he’s coming back to test himself to see if he’s capable of winning against everyone he never did.”

Tobio in no way wanted to admit that whatever just left Tsukishima’s mouth went right over his head. With the way the blond looked at him though, Tobio thought it might be apparent on his face anyways.

“Well, I suppose you’ll just find out later.”

He gave Tsukishima a look and the blond gave him a one back accompanied by a middle finger. They were good friends, really.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> terribly sorry for the wait ! this month has been Crazy for me and there was just so much going on. anyways, i've mapped out about 80% of the story and despite this chapter being insanely hard to write for some god awful reason, the story is getting started. this chapter was a bit too dialogue-y and not as descriptive as i usually like but i thought i'd bring back some of the casualness from Suite. also because i love the idea of kageyama and tsukishima having a really sarcastic but close friendship that neither of them really want to admit to. bringing it back around, i hope this was not as glaringly incohesive as i'm telling myself it is and that you lovely people are having a wonderful time with the holidays !


	3. No. 3: Invention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> an excerpt from my notes: "tobio just wants to pee in peace. bathrooms man. dino boy is a jerk but we love him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once more i'm iffy about this chapter because it's cliche as hell but i also love cliches sooo this is how we're rolling. i hope you enjoy !

_“The bathroom is a dangerous place, you meet dangerous people there.”_

That was something that Hinata said to him once at the Tokyo training camp in their first year of high school. He said it while lamenting his run-in with the tall middle blocker with the European name he never bothered to learn. Tobio only offered half an ear at that time, his brain focused on getting comfortable so he could sleep. But Hinata brought up bathroom run-ins frequently enough for the gist to stick. Tobio always chucked it up to the fact that it was just a Hinata thing.

In the current moment however, Tobio thought that because of all the time he spent talking to Hinata it might have become a Tobio thing too. Reason being, Oikawa Fucking Tooru blinked at him after he exited the bathroom of the sports store and Tobio really found it unfair. He just wanted to buy his shoes and pee in peace, honestly.

“Tobio-chan?”

The nickname made his heart beat jump into a dotted eighth-sixteenth note rhythm. Tobio discreetly sucked his chest in with a halted breath as he mentally cursed lady luck and curled his toes in his sneakers. He followed up his discreet internal combustion with an equally discreet sigh as he dipped his head in greeting politely, “Oikawa-san.”

A casual smile so disgustingly fake and handsome pulled at Oikawa’s surprisingly unstrained face and his large hands found their way into his pockets. Tobio remembered Oikawa doing that a lot when he was uncomfortable, as if his hands would give every one of his secrets away so he needed to hide them. Tobio also did not like that he remembered such a detail.

“Man, it’s been a while hasn’t it?”

“Four years.” Tobio said in a voice that he hoped sounded less sticky and tight than it felt.

Oikawa hummed, “Yeah. I saw you play at the Olympics, how was it?”

“Fine.”

“Just fine?”

“Yeah.” Tobio shrugged, unsure because what the fuck does one do when talking to their ex-boyfriend that they ran into all because they had to take a piss? He wondered if Oikawa felt similarly. “Uh… You got tall.”

Oikawa laughed, apparently unfazed as his shoulders seemed to ease with Tobio’s comment. His hands found their way out of his pockets. “Chibi-chan said the same thing to me when I ran into him in Brazil. Looks like you’ve grown some too.”

Tobio shifted on his feet as he tugged his black sweatshirt sleeve down, “Yeah.”

“I’m still taller though. Guess all that milk didn’t help you.” Oikawa said with a satisfied smile. The petty one, Tobio saw it a few times before when Oikawa bragged about himself. Which meant Tobio saw it a lot. Many times in person and only slightly fewer times on television after the brunet had landed a particularly nasty serve.

Tobio responded with a roll of his eyes, “It did. My mom isn’t that tall so I ended up at a good height.”

“What’s that? Couldn’t hear you from down there.” There was a twinkle of mischief in his brown eyes that Tobio absently found endearing— Nope. One does not call their ex-boyfriend that. Never. Not in any possible situation would it be okay. That aside, Tobio was tall himself, thank you very much.

He couldn’t help the way his face pinched into what Tsukishima called a pout. But he didn’t pout, he frowned. “You’re not that much taller than me.”

Oikawa raised an eyebrow, “Aren’t I?”

Tobio furrowed his brows, “No.”

“Whatever floats your boat.” he laughed, “How have you been? I see you’ve changed your hair.”

A self-conscious hand found its way into the bundle of strands behind his ear and became acutely aware of his exposed forehead. Tobio didn’t necessarily like it, he didn’t hate it either, it just happened to be like that out of practicality. “I haven’t had time to cut it.”

“The life of an athlete, you never have time for anything.” Oikawa hummed, “You play for Schweiden Adlers, right?”

“Yeah.” Tobio nodded, pushing his hair behind his ear.

“Ugh, so you’re playing with Ushiwaka then, how’s that?” Oikawa said with a fake gag.

“It’s fine.” Tobio offered, “He’s better when he’s on your side.”

A huff came out of Oikawa’s nose as it rose into the air in a snotty manner, “Well I suppose you two would probably get along. The two super volleyball idiots.”

Tobio furrowed his eyebrows, what did that even mean? How could someone be an idiot at volleyball? He was good at volleyball too… He decided to ignore the comment, “Are you back? Shouyou said that you were planning on coming back around now.”

A light sigh left Oikawa’s lungs, another smile on his face. “Yeah, I am. It feels good. Argentina was fun, there’s a lot of sun over there but I missed Japan.”

“Oh.” was all he managed before his bladder let him know of his original mission, “Well, uh, I have to use the bathroom…”

“Oh.” Oikawa parroted, he blinked as if he’d just been woken from a daze and one more smile covered his face. Faker this time, that cellophane one that made Tobio’s skin itch in the same way it did when he heard an out of tune instrument, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to hold you up. I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah.” Tobio swallowed and he bowed politely, “Goodbye Oikawa-san.”

_Sender: Kageyama Tobio_  
_\- bathrooms are dangerous_

“What’s wrong?” Tsukishima asked over his bowl of soba.

Tobio gumbled into his water. It felt exactly like that time two years ago when Hinata had first sent him that picture of Oikawa. They were in the same noodle shop as they were two years ago for god’s sake.

It had been a week since he ran into Oikawa and since then Tobio found himself having a mini-crisis. Part of him thought that he would never see Oikawa again after their break-up Which was a bit ridiculous considering they both played volleyball and were both aiming for the same country to play for. That aside, Tobio recently found himself paranoid that he would find Oikawa at another bathroom and would subsequently be forced to sit through another awkward conversation as they skittered around the fact that they had dated for a year and that they were never really friends and most of their memories together involve being boyfriends. Maybe he was overthinking it but god the last time was so awkward.

“Nothing.” is what he replied with.

Tsukishima gave him a _really_ look. “Do we have to go through this every time something bothers you?”

Tobio groaned and looked down into his soba, “I ran into Oikawa-san this week.”

“When?”

“I was at the sports store, we ran into each other at the bathroom.”

Tsukishima laughed, he fucking laughed. “Hinata’s really rubbing off on you, isn’t he? Pretty soon you’ll shrink and start growing orange hair.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

Tsukishima gave him his asshole copyrighted grin. “How did meeting him go?”

“It was awkward.”

“I would be surprised if it wasn’t, considering the last time you talked to him was when he dumped you.”

Tobio gave him a suffering look that Tsukishima matched with haughty mirth. The blond enjoyed this way too much. “You’re such an asshole.”

“I take my job seriously.” Tsukishima paused to eat. “Anyways, why are you so caught up about it?”

“I don’t want to run into him again.” Tobio said.

They both heard the bell on the top of the door ring. Tobio paid no attention and simply picked up more noodles. But when Tsukishima didn’t say anything more, he flicked his gaze up and saw that the other man’s lips were pursed in a desperate attempt to contain laughter. Dread sunk into Tobio’s muscles, “Don’t tell me…”

“I won’t. You can see for yourself.”

He discreetly shifted so that he could see behind him and there stood Oikawa next to Iwaizumi and the latter definitely saw Tsukishima and was definitely the type to say hi to people he once knew and Tobio really _really_ hated his life. He nearly dropped his face into his noodles and internally screamed, “I hate my fucking life, I really fucking do.”

Ever the helpful one, Tsukishima smirked and took an elegant sip of his water, “Someone up there really hates you. Understandably so, you’ve got a piss poor personality.”

“You’re one to talk.”

“Oh, would you look at that, here they come.” he chimed as he put on a polite smile.

Tobio resisted the urge to become one with his chair and to hike his shoulders up all the way to Mt. Everest. To quell his internal panic, he took a big gulp of water that rushed into his stomach like a tidal wave to wash over his sudden uneasiness. Rather than helping, it only made it worse.

“I want to vomit.”

“You’ve been saying that a lot recently, maybe you should get that checked out.”

Tobio glared.

“Hey.” a new voice said and Tobio regretfully looked up to see Iwaizumi casually standing there with a friendly expression.

“If it isn’t Tobio-chan and Megane-kun.” Oikawa hummed melodically with a matching grin.

Tsukishima’s eye twitched at the nickname before a smile mirrored the other man’s, “It’s been a while… Kusokawa and Iwaizumi-san if I’m correct?”

“Kuso—!” the brunet squawked as Iwaizumi barked out a laugh, “Don’t laugh Iwa-chan, your nicknames really did rub off on people! Tobio-chan! Your friend is so mean!”

“I have no control over him.” Tobio stated plainly. Tsukishima shot his table partner a disgusting simper that read so you finally admit it. “Fuck you.”

“I’m not interested.”

Iwaizumi laughed once more, “Anyways, how have the two of you been?”

“Good.” Tobio said.

“That’s good.” Iwaizumi then turned, “It’s Tsukishima right? What have you been up to? Do you still play volleyball?”

Tsukishima nodded, “I do, but I’m more focused on college.”

“What are you studying?” Oikawa asked.

“Paleontology.”

“Putting your dinosaur obsession to good use.” Tobio pointed out.

Tsukishima’s eyebrow twitched, “At least I actually have a brain to use for something other than hitting a ball.”

“I use my brain for other things.” Tobio grumbled as he grumpily ate his soba.

There were a few more back and forths between the four of them that only stopped Oikawa and Iwaizumi went to go actually eat something. Tobio had successfully avoided eye contact with him the whole time and even afterwards when he and Tsukishima left.

“I really hate my life.”

“So you’ve said.” Tsukishima observed as they walked down the street.

“I hate you too.”

“Yet you’ve continued to eat lunch with me every other week since we graduated high school.”

Tobio really couldn’t win.

“That aside, I think that there’s something you’re going to have to dig up and deal with if you feel that uncomfortable around him.” Tsukishima mentioned, gold eyes following the window of a clothing shop for a second.

“What?”

Tsukishima glanced over and the glint in his eye expressed that he felt he didn’t deserve this. “You’re an idiot.”

Tobio glared, “Excuse me?”

“You’re excused.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they meet again! this story is taking on a much more casual feel than i originally planned but i do still plan on having drama because it's oikawa and when is he not dramatic ? (the answer is never) hopefully this kept everyone relatively in character ??? i feel that i'm starting to get the hang of tobio and tsukishima is (i think) definitely a bit ooc because the dynamic of his and kageyama's friendship is different than the one depicted in the anime/manga so far so please bear with me ! also, iwaizumi makes his entrance! he's going to be a little more involved in the redeveloping relationship between oikawa and kageyama because let's face it, they're both the Worst at communicating which is something that they'll have to overcome.  
> also, this is the last of the longer time skips and i can say the rising action has begun. many more awkward meet-ups between these two currently ex-boyfriends to come and broships galore


	4. No. 4: Variations (II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> buying milk is something of a religious experience for kageyama

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a lot of research about milk in japan was put into this

If Hinata considered bathrooms the place that warranted the most caution, Tobio would consider grocery stores even more dangerous. While Tobio now understood just how daunting a bathroom could be, he had always been aware of just how horrible grocery stores were. Especially back in Miyagi. Over the course of his relatively short life, he acquired a number of unfavorable run ins with people while trying to buy food.

  
Back in his first year of highschool, there were several times where he spotted old teammates that definitely did not like him while picking out produce. But usually he got away with his mother being there and he could act as if all his attention was being taken by her and their conversation about how many oranges they should get and how ripe they should buy their bananas. Though there were a few times where interaction was inevitable.

For example:

_Tobio stood in front of the furikake selection with his eyebrows snagged together in thought. They usually bought plain nori komi and shiso fumi but lately his mom chose kimchi furikake over both. Though they still had that kind in their pantry but they were low on the shiso one, he would just get that. He picked out the second container from the front and turned to go find his mom just as another person rounded the corner._

_He immediately stopped when he saw Kindaichi halt similarly and his expression morphed into one of irritation. Tobio kept his face blank and awkwardly shifted his weight between his feet, alternating for a moment before he settled on dipping his head in greeting._

_“I’m not safe from your tyranny even here, am I?” Kindaichi scowled and Tobio’s only physical reaction was a fast blink._

_“Yeah.” he offered quietly then he dipped his head once more and promptly left the aisle._

That was a case where the interaction really could have gone worse.

There were other times, where it went even worse.

Tobio at age eighteen possessed the worst luck. Somehow, everytime he went to the grocery store he would spot Oikawa’s mother. Out of all the times to have run into the woman outside of her house, of course it had to be only _after_ he broke up with her son. For the past month or so of it occurring, Tobio successfully avoided her. But that day didn’t seem to want to give Tobio a break.

Tobio had been walking around the grocery store looking for the vegetable aisle as the store recently reorganized everything, much to his displeasure. He hadn’t noticed the petite brown haired woman in front of him while he staring down at the shopping list his mom texted him and subsequently plowed right into her. As soon as he felt a smaller body collide with his he cringed and looked up from his phone and cringed some more when he saw who he body slammed.

“O—Oikawa-san.” he said, feeling uneasiness flutter in his stomach, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Oh Tobio-kun!” the woman said, completely ignoring the fact that she, a mere two seconds ago, nearly fell to the floor. A bright smile that matched her son’s lit up her pretty face, it was a no-brainer as to where Oikawa got his charm. “It’s been a while and look at you, you’ve gotten taller! I think you might be almost as tall as Tooru.”

He put his best effort into a smile he was sure would have Hinata kicking him in the shin, but you couldn’t just _not_ smile at Oikawa’s mother. She’d take it personally, just like her son would. It was scary how alike they were. “Yeah…”

“Are you looking for vegetables too? Isn’t it so annoying how they reorganized the store, I hate it when they do that.” She said in a weird psychic bout, also like her son tended to have. “Come on, let’s find it together and catch up!”

And so Tobio found himself tagging along.

“Oikawa-san—”

“Please, call me Kumiko. We’ve known each other for a long time now you don’t need to be so formal. Besides, doesn’t it get confusing with three Oikawa-sans?” the woman said breezily as she flipped through the leaves of a cabbage to check if it was worth purchasing.

Tobio pursed his lips, “Kumiko-san. I kind of need to—”

“Oh don’t even start.” Kumiko laughed, although her tone made him stiffen. “You just got here and your basket’s got three things in it.”

Stuck, that’s where he found himself. Tobio brushed his hair out of his face and resigned to picking out vegetables along with her. And fruits. And getting the cereal for her from the top shelves. And then he found himself helping her to put groceries in her car. He now remembered that Kumiko was just every bit as hard to deny as her son.

  
“So how have you been? You’re a third year now right?” Kumiko asked, looking through her bag for her keys. Once successfully procured, she popped the trunk open.

“I am, and I’ve been good. Thank you.” he said, “How have you been?”

“Good, a bit lonely. I find that I don’t know what to do with myself without someone to take care of.” she hummed with a soft smile, “And Tooru is horrible at keeping in contact. Gosh, it’s so scary knowing he’s in a foreign country all by himself. Who knows what kind of trouble he’s getting into over there…”

Tobio nodded along, unsure about how to respond. He looked down at the three burlap bags in the cart and focused on putting those into the back to get out of talking.

“Tobio-kun…” Kumiko sighed, apparently displeased with his lukewarm response, and clicked the trunk shut, “I know that you and my son didn’t end on the best of terms, but you don’t hate him, do you?”

He almost dropped his own bags. He looked up at her then he avoided her gaze, shoulders bowing into an arc. “No— No. I don’t— I couldn’t ever. Oikawa is…”

God, why was it still so hard to talk about him? Tobio swallowed down the caesura in the measure of his throat, “It’s just awkward.”

Her eyes narrowed for a second before she smiled softly, “I see.”

Tobio pushed his brows into a wrinkle at the tone she took on. As if she knew something he didn’t. He didn’t like it. He got that tone enough from Tsukishima and Yamaguchi; he didn’t want it from anyone else.

“You’re good for him.” she said suddenly.

He stopped again and looked up at her, feeling something ugly welling in his stomach. “We’re not…”

“I know.”

“I haven’t even talked to him since he broke it off.”

Kumiko hummed, “I figured. Tooru, for all his dramatics, is surprisingly horrible at confrontation when it deals with being honest.”

Tobio frowned, “I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”

“I think you’ll find out in due time.” she said warmly, “Thank you for letting me drag you around today. You’re good company to have, I can see why Tooru is so taken with you.”

_Is?_

That caesura returned.

Laying in bed that night, he simply brushed her words off as a fluke and turned over. He didn’t think he’d ever talk to Oikawa again.

-

He was wrong about that. He long learned that Oikawa always made people feel wrong.

All of that being said, grocery stores were just as dangerous as bathrooms in Tobio’s strong opinion. The case right now was just another piece of evidence to his argument.

Buying milk was difficult. There were so many types and he tasted a lot of different kinds. Whole milk, content adjusted milk, strawberry milk, chocolate milk, soy milk, almond milk, goat milk— the list went on. But to his cultured tongue, nothing would beat a good, ice cold glass of low-fat milk. He went through four liters a week and so every Sunday he made a trip to the grocery store looking for his favorite drink with diligence and dedication. The only time he skipped a week would be when he was travelling, other than that one could expect to see Kageyama Tobio every Sunday at two in the afternoon agonizing over which brand of milk to buy.

He stared down at his options. Meiji, Hokkaido Fresh, or Morianga? Or should he get a prefectural brand? Ehime usually made good milk. But Kowai Dairy was also dependable. He usually got four cartons, that was for sure, a liter each? He could get all different ones.

Tobio pushed his brows into a firm line.

Ushijima had told him that it was better to support small farmers, so maybe he should get the organic brand? But he didn’t want to spend five hundred yen on milk. Then again, what if he just bought one carton of organic milk and then the rest not. Could that be a good compromise?

“Having trouble?”

Tobio blinked, coming out of his internal milk debate to look up at probably the last person he wanted to see. Oikawa loomed over his shoulder with that irritating grin screaming _‘I love terrorizing the innocent’_ and Tobio blanked. Why could the universe just give him a break? He just wanted to buy his milk and exist in peace but _no_.

“Do you need something, Oikawa-san?” Tobio asked passively.

“So cold! Is that any way to talk to your senpai?” Oikawa scolded in offense that he certainly did not feel. Really, Tobio would never get that guy.

“You’re not my senpai.” Tobio informed curtly, turning to look back at the milk section. Meiji was on sale today. Proud of his deciding observation, he reached down to pick up four cartons, depositing each into his basket.

“Rude, considering everything I taught you I’m at least your mentor.” Oikawa declared.

“I taught myself.”

“By watching me.” He pointed out, grabbing his own non-fat tetra pak liter. Tobio narrowed his eyes at Oikawa’s choice and only slightly refrained from wrinkling his nose. Although his mildly judgemental disposition must have been apparent as Oikawa tilted his head and raised a perfect eyebrow dramatically. “What?”

“Non-fat.” Tobio observed in disgust.

“What about it?”

“It tastes worse.” Tobio turned his nose up in distaste.

Oikawa rolled his eyes, “So what? It’s healthier.”

“It’s not. You need fat in your diet as well to keep it balanced.” Tobio challenged, standing stiffer.

Oikawa scoffed and cocked out his hip, “I studied nutritional science. I think I’m more qualified to say what food is healthy and what’s not.”

“You dropped out.” Tobio reminded and found amusement in the way Oikawa gaped and flushed in embarrassment. He pouted like a child and huffed, crossing his arms over a puffed chest and planted both feet on the ground securely.

“You didn’t even go to college.”

“I still didn’t drop out.” Tobio bit his lip to contain a smirk. The moments were always few and far between, but when he got the upper hand over Oikawa it always felt satisfying. Though it was still gross that he had to talk to him in the first place.

  
“You spend way too much time with Megane-kun.” Oikawa decided, throwing his head up in a way that also accomplished flipping his hair.

Tobio sighed deeply and thought back to all the passive aggressive conversations and texts he engaged in with Tsukishima. His face pulled into something of a regretful agreement, “I do.”

“He’s got a horrible personality, you should hang out with different people.”

“I do.” Tobio repeated with a shrug.

Oikawa looked at him, unconvinced. “Like who?”

“Ushijima-san.” Oikawa made a face and Tobio rolled his eyes, “He’s not that bad.” He pulled the neckline of his hoodie away from his throat so it would stop choking him and found he had nothing more to say. He felt awkward and unsure. Felt that way from the beginning of the conversation, “I’m going to go now.”

“Oh?” Oikawa narrowed his eyes, calculating something, and Tobio responded with a furrow of his brows. “Have fun then, Tobio-chan. Don’t get a stomach ache from drinking all that milk.

“I won’t.” Tobio said seriously, watching as Oikawa walked in the direction of the vegetable section. He would never get that guy. He never really did.

If only eighteen year old Tobio could see him now, he thought as he put the milk into his fridge. Talking to that person, even if it felt horribly awkward and uncomfortable. Though Tsukishima and Hinata would argue that he was never not awkward and uncomfortable. He digressed.

Tobio noted that in the three times he talked to Oikawa since the latter returned, it became progressively less _gross_ talking to him. While he never felt too… well, not gross talking to Oikawa, it definitely didn’t feel as bad. Maybe in the near future it wouldn’t feel gross at all.

Maybe.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heavily inspired by my own experiences at the japanese market and my anxieties about seeing my peers in an unprofessional setting.  
> this story is not coming easy to me lol but i'm trying my best to power through ! i literally sat on this chapter for two weeks trying to figure out how to work it and part of it i'd written before the first chapter was even posted lmao. hopefully the pacing is ok ?? i don't want things to happen too fast because i think it will be more rewarding with a slower build because a lot of ff writers (myself included) rush things to get to the romance and i'm trying to combat this but do let me know if this becomes too slow.  
> thank you for reading ! i hope all of you are having a lovely start to the new year !


	5. Intermission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok, this is kind of a filler chapter but i've been sitting on it for WEEKS (at this point months) so i just thought i'd post it since i think i won't be able to milk anything more out of this part ehehe  
> also So Sorry for the wait, oh my god it feels like it's been forever (like holy shit it's been three months what was i doing????)

Yachi Hitoka was the love of every 2013-2015 Karasuno Volleyball alumni’s life. The epitome of cute, smart, generous, and kind. Tobio reckoned if he were to marry a woman, Yachi would be his first choice. Those are the thoughts that went through his head as he walked into her apartment and smelled pork curry wafting in the air.

“I love you.” He blurted as she ushered him into her small studio apartment.

Yachi giggled daintily and waved him off with her small hand, “I love you too. Can you help me set out some plates? Yamaguchi-kun will be here soon.”

He nodded and walked into the kitchen where Tsukishima was mindlessly stirring the pot, not Yachi. His mood immediately fell with his face, lips pressed into a grim line. Tsukishima turned his head to offer a simple nod but instead felt affronted by the noh mask expression Tobio gave him. “Nice to see you too, King.”

“I hate you.”

“A shared sentiment.”

“Guys.” Yachi said placatingly, a nervous smile playing with her features. “And look, Kageyama-kun, Tsukishima-kun and I made you curry!”

“Thanks…”

“At least thank Yachi.” Tsukishima rolled his eyes, turning back to the stove.

“Thanks.”

“Of course Kageyama-kun, we have everyone’s favorites!”

An hour later, Tobio sat on the floor at a low table across from Tsukishima with Yamaguchi and Yachi chatting on either side of him. Yamaguchi swirled a soggy french fry into some ketchup on one of the plates in the middle, “Sometimes I forget how quiet it is without Hinata here.”

Tsukishima wrinkled his nose with the abundant memories of non-stop chatter from their other friend, “His existence is so loud I can hear it all the way from Brazil.”

Yachi laughed aloud and hid her mouth behind her hand, “He is pretty loud. But you kind of miss it, no? His constant brightness and warmth, it’s unforgettable. Just like the sun.”

Tobio frowned in confusion around the spoon in his mouth as his mind tried to grasp her analogy. Yamaguchi hummed in agreement and Tsukishima looked unimpressed, “You two are taking your literature classes too seriously. And both of you were already horrible romantics.”

“You wouldn’t mind it so much if the subject wasn’t Hinata.” Yamaguchi pointed out, popping another floppy fry into his mouth.

“He’s unbearable.”

“You say that about ninety percent of life on earth.”

“Because ninety percent of life on earth is unbearable. Hinata just happens to be more so than others.” Tsukishima said, turning his nose into the air.

Yachi shook her head fondly before looking at Tobio, “How about you? Do you miss Hinata too?”

His face involuntarily pulled into a pained, wrinkled expression that was somewhere between constipated and brooding. “Of course not. He’s an idiot and I’m glad he’s out of my hair for a while.”

“Mhm, yeah.” Yamaguchi agreed with a contradictory smile. “Well, he’s coming back soon. Anyways, how’ve you been? Tsukki says that you’ve been running into Oikawa a lot.”

Tobio gave the blond his scariest glare but he only remained unfazed. “Ah, did I say that?”

“I’m gonna kill you.”

“The king executing his subject, do enlighten us on the crime I’m losing my life for.”

He pressed his brows into a harsher line, “Why do you talk like that?”

“Like an intelligent person? Because unlike you I have more than one brain cell that I can use for something other than sports.” Tsukishima said with a signature leering simper that said _I’m smart and you’re stupid_.

Unlike most other times they engaged in conversation like this, Yachi was there that day. “ _Boys_ , no fighting in my apartment.” For such a tiny girl, she easily grabbed the leashes of the two largest men in the room.

“Sorry…” Tobio said immediately and Tsukishima went back to eating like a picky toddler.

Yachi smiled prettily and nodded, “So, Oikawa right?”

Tobio hunkered down, “It’s like I can’t avoid him, even here…”

“Not much goes on in your life outside of your career.” Yamaguchi pointed out, “Unless there’s another basketball player you haven’t told us about.”

Tobio’s lips and eyebrows pursed together, “That was _one_ time…”

“Well, we don’t have to talk about it.” Yachi hummed like the goddess she was, “Did you hear? Tanaka-senpai proposed to Kiyoko-senpai!”

They continued to talk well into the night until Yamaguchi and Tsukishima both left before the trains ran their last stops. Tobio stayed to help Yachi clean up despite her protesting.

“Are you sure you don’t have to leave?”

“Yeah, I drove today.” He said, picking up the dishes from the table and walking to the sink where he rolled up his sleeves.

Yachi laughed through her nose and smiled brightly, “Thank you.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, turning on the water. They worked around each other easily and she kept up a nice stream of chatter. Until suddenly she grew quiet.

“Kageyama-kun, can I ask you about something?” She asked hesitantly, staring at her warped reflection in a spoon.

He dipped his head in affirmation, urging her to go on.

“Okay… uhm… There’s this grad student in my sales class and we kind of hit it off as friends.” Yachi started, shifting uncomfortably. “But the other day we were at the library working on a project and uhm… H-He asked me out and—… well now we’re going on a date. I’m kind of nervous. I haven’t really dated before, you know?” She paused, drying off a pair of chopsticks. “He definitely seems more experienced in this kind of area. Plus he’s two years older, what if he thinks I’m not as mature as he’s used to?”

Tobio shrugged, scrubbing a pot. “If he’s genuinely interested in you then he won’t care about that.”

“You’re right. And it’s only one date, so there aren’t any expectations. Unless there are…”

“There aren’t.”

“Yeah… Sorry for springing this on you but you’re my only close friend who likes guys too so…”

“I don’t mind.”

She deflated with a sigh, the growing tension easing from her body. “I know… I just wish I could be more like you. You’re so confident about things, I don’t know how you do it.”

He shrugged and handed her the pot, “I’ve only dated two people.”

“Ah, well, that’s two more than I have. And both of your relationships have lasted long.” She sighed. “Sorry, I know you don’t really like to talk about this kind of thing.”

He shrugged again, “I don’t really care. Like you said we’re friends so… I should try to help you and… yeah…”

“Yeah, I just wanted to ask what I should do on a date. And what should I wear? We’re going to get dinner so probably something casual but cute right?”

He nodded, “Just be yourself. Everyone loves you. If it doesn’t work out it doesn’t work out.”

Yachi smiled softly, “You make everything so simple. I don’t know, guess I’m just nervous…”

“Text Hinata before you meet the guy. He’s good at gassing people up.” Tobio suggested, then his cheeks pinkened. “I… text him a lot when I’m not feeling confident… He always knows what to say, even if he doesn’t think about it.”

“He does, doesn’t he?” She agreed, putting away the last of the dishes. “Do you wanna stay a little longer? I can make tea.”

“Sure.”

Soon after, they were seated on her bed, backs to the wall as Yachi prattled on about things. They stayed like that for a while until both found their eyes drooping with exhaustion. Tobio felt too tired to drive and Yachi picked up on that, offering her couch for the night to which he gladly accepted.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there is So Much to talk about, i'll save the manga spoilers for after and i'm not one to usually mention this stuff but it needs to be Addressed bc o m g. please bare with me as i rant due to the supremely pathetic amount of social interaction i've been granted within the last week
> 
> 1) i hope everyone is doing really well in the face of this pandemic ! please take care for yourself and those around you and let's all hope this ends soon especially for those with a lot going on this year. my sports season has been officially cancelled (though i'm praying that the tournament is still progressing) and my school (along with many others) has been cancelled indefinitely which is unfortunate considering i have to prepare for a lot of my finals. i know i'm very fortunate that this is the only way in which i've been affected so far and my heart goes out to all of those who are worse off than i. on the bright side, this means plenty of time for writing so i hope to bring you all some chapters to read while we deal with this :))
> 
> 2) *spoilers for chapter 387*
> 
> he has a sister ??? this would have been very nice to know earlier on but now ig i just have to add her in somewhere ?? it's always very exciting to see new characters introduced so i'm excited that i no longer have to imagine him as a sad lonely child. also i love that we got to know a little bit of why kageyama acted the way he did in middle school and also (as the embarrassingly devoted oikage shipper i am) i love seeing him idolize oikawa !! also, please may we see oikawa soon ? i would very much like to know how i can incorporate more cannon  
> *spoilers end*
> 
> overall, i'm very sorry that this took so long and thank you so much for being patient with me! please stay safe and i will hopefully post soon :))


	6. No. 5: Intermezzo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a reminder of sorts for tobio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what's this ? less than an eternity between updates ?? who am i ?  
> also i did add a spoilers tag just because i'm mentioning his sister and grandpa now, not sure if it's completely necessary but i wanted to include it just in case you aren't caught up to chapter 387-ish

Tobio groggily awoke to the pleasant smell of curry and eggs. He blinked, vision going from dappled to focused as his pupils adjusted to the light. Sitting up, he noticed a particularly unpleasant crick in his neck and lifted his arm to rub it out with his fingers. He looked around and noted it was morning, late morning judging by the sun. With a tired yawn he stood up and walked into the kitchen where Yachi bustled around, heating up the curry and frying some eggs. She looked over her shoulder and smiled, “Good morning Kageyama-kun. Was the couch too uncomfortable?”

“It was fine.” he lied, knowing if he said otherwise she would freak out and apologize profusely.

“That’s good.” she hummed.

Soon the food was plated and they ate together before she apologized and said her mother had called her into the office for an emergency. Tobio simply nodded, thanked her for letting him stay, and then went to his car.

He got home as quickly as he could so he could take a shower and then spend the rest of his off day relaxing. However, naturally, life (rather his family) planned other things for him.

After he exited the bathroom wearing his comfiest clothes, he noticed his phone lighting up with a notification. Habitually, he took it and pressed his phone on the home button, then allowed the home button to read his thumb print to open it. He then pulled the pad of his finger down the screen and saw a text message from his sister reading as follows:

_Sender: Miwa_

_\- Today is your off day, right? Could you head to the hardware store and pick mom up a bag of mulch?_

He gave her a deeply unimpressed face through the phone screen. Her smiling contact photo only served to say _I was born eight years before you and changed your shitty diapers when mom couldn’t so now you have to do everything I say_.

_Sender: Kageyama Tobio_

_\- what brand?_

He mournfully changed out of his homeless attire into something more presentable. Since leaving high school he’d grown and thus had to actually begin shopping for himself since his sister said she would no longer send him free clothes from her gigs since he was a “working man”. (Though she still sent him things for his birthday.) Subsequently, the breadth of his closet downsized considerably and he, very much like a cartoon character, wore practically the same thing every day. Some sort of sweatshirt or hoodie and a pair of jeans.

Grabbing his keys, Tobio left and locked his apartment before going to the parking lot. He slid into his car, put the keys into the ignition, and queued up some music. The drive to the nearest hardware store took all of twenty minutes. He got out of his car and walked in, immediately looking for the gardening section amongst other home improvement aisles with the hope that if he finished fast he could still sleep the rest of the day. He skimmed the titles of each aisle before he found the one he was looking for.

Upon encountering the mulch selection, he pulled out his phone again and opened up a rather unhelpful text from Miwa.

_Sender: Miwa_

_\- Idk, the type that’s good for flowers?_

“Kageyama?”

He blinked and looked up to see Iwaizumi standing there, a bag of mulch and several pots in his cart. Tobio dipped his head, “Iwaizumi-san.”

“Need help?” Iwaizumi asked, noting the likely confused and mildly distressed expression on Tobio’s face.

“Yeah,” he nodded, pocketing his phone. “What kind of mulch is good for flowers?”

Iwaizumi hummed, “Probably an organic mulch so that it can control the moisture in the bed and give the flowers nutrients as it breaks down.”

Tobio blinked and looked at his selection, the information going right over his head. Iwaizumi once more took notice and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, a bit of an embarrassed look crossing over his face, “Sorry, that probably didn’t make sense. You should get this one.” He patted the bag in his cart, “It’s pretty good.”

“Okay.” he nodded, picking up the bag and setting his hands on the underside to carry it against his stomach.

“How are you?” Iwaizumi asked.

Tobio shrugged, “Fine. You?”

“I’m good.” he said, setting his rough looking hands on the handle of his cart. A gleam caught Tobio’s eye and he noticed a shiny rustic gold ring on Iwaizumi’s left ring finger.

“Are you married?” Tobio asked curiously.

Iwaizumi smiled softly, shaking his head. “No, engaged.”

“Congratulations. When are you planning for?”

“Ah thank you. We haven’t decided on a date yet. I just asked her a couple of weeks ago, but we’re thinking either in the spring or summer of next year. Just something small.” he said, gazing at his ring with such a fond look.

It was a sweet sight, Tobio thought, shifting the bag in his hands. He wondered if he should continue the conversation, “You seem really happy.”

Iwaizumi nodded, “Yeah. She’s amazing. So what about you? Are you seeing anyone these days?”

Tobio thought back to last night’s conversation and questioned why everyone currently seemed invested in his romantic life. He shook his head, “No.”

“Ah,” he said, an odd and undecipherable tone in his voice. Not that Tobio even noticed as he readjusted the woven plastic bag in his hands. Iwaizumi shifted, “I should probably let you go, it was nice seeing you.”

“Yeah.” Tobio nodded, beginning to walk away.

“Have you still got my number?” Iwaizumi asked suddenly, causing Tobio to halt and tilt his head to the side curiously.

“Uh, I don’t think I ever had it.” he pointed out. “I didn’t have a phone until my third year of middle school.”

Iwaizumi nodded and fished out his phone from the depths of his back pocket. “What’s your’s?”

Tobio furrowed his brows, why would he need it? It wasn’t as if they were ever particularly close. In fact, he could probably count the amount of conversations he engaged in with Iwaizumi after middle school on his fingers, maybe toes. He refrained from voicing these thoughts and simply offered his contact information. Iwaizumi nodded, shoving his phone back into his jeans, “I’ll text you so you have my number later.”

“Sure.” Tobio nodded, then leaning forward into a bow, “Thank you for the help.”

“Don’t mention it.” Iwaizumi said, waving him off.

Tobio left and drove to his parent’s house. He grabbed the bag to hold it under his arm and up using his hip while he unlocked the door. Pushing it open, he called out his arrival and kicked off his shoes.

“Ah, Tobio.” his mother’s pretty face and smile greeted him. “Miwa said you’d be dropping by, you can put that on the patio.”

He nodded and walked through the house. Once more propping the bag on his hip, he slid the door to the patio open and put the bag down against the wall.

“Thanks Tobio.” his mother said. “Do you want to stay for dinner? Your father will be home soon.”

He wanted to please his mother, but he really wanted that nap and his father would definitely give him a weird look if he found him crashed in his old room. He reached up and pushed his hair back behind his ear. His mom laughed, watching her son’s lips purse into an impressive squiggly line, betraying his internal debate. She patted his arm, “Some other time then. I’ll invite Miwa and her boyfriend too.”

“Yeah.” Tobio nodded.

“Oh, and before you leave.” his mom said, walking into the living room to gesture to a large cardboard box sitting in the corner on top of the piano. “Your father wanted to get rid of all your old sheet music but I told him we should ask you if you wanted to keep it first. I already sorted out the books you used in elementary since I thought you probably wouldn’t want that stuff. All the blue books are in there though.”

Tobio blinked and proceeded to walk over. He opened the box and saw neatly stacked books and binders of music. He ran his well cared for finger tips over the spine of a familiar Henle book, _Debussy’s Klavierwerke Band II_. He remembered working all the way through the book, from _Pagodes_ to _La Plus Que Lente_ during the end of his third year at Kita-iichi to the beginning of his first at Karasuno. It had been a birthday gift from his grandfather, the last one he got before he passed.

“If you don’t want them we’ll give them away. But I figured you’d want to keep some of them.” she said, leaning against the baby grand piano. “We’re also probably gonna get rid of the piano, it takes up a lot of space.”

It felt strange, hearing those words. He splayed his neat hand over the black lacquered wood. The piano had been in his life almost as long as volleyball had, maybe longer. He remembered the first time his mother sat him down at the bench for that very first lesson. The hope in his mother’s eyes that he would be a bit more musically inclined than Miwa. His sister played too, but not like him and she dropped it the moment she got into high school. She was always better at more tangible forms of art; writing, drawing, makeup. Probably because words, feelings, and ideas came easier to her than him.

He lifted up the fall board and pressed down the B in the sixth octave. His eardrums shook as his brain registered that it sounded more like a horribly out of tune B-flat. Tobio pulled his finger back and watched as the key stuck, he hooked his nail on the lip of the key. Oddly, it felt like the end of an era for him. He closed the fall board and the box, “I’ll take them.”

“Great.” she smiled. “You seem like you haven’t played in a while.”

“I’ve been busy.” he shrugged, neglecting to tell her he didn't even own a keyboard.

“Ah. And I bet you haven’t visited Aragaki-san in a while either. Why don’t you stop by since you’re here? You can bring her some of the kumquats I picked.” his mother said.

Tobio wanted nothing more than to take a nap at that point, but he couldn’t say no to his mother. So he nodded and took the box. She dropped a reused plastic bag on the top of it as he shoved his feet into his shoes and waved him off as he left. He placed the box in the back seat of his car before walking up the street two houses to the right. He knocked on the door and a faint, aged voice called something along the lines of ‘ _be right there_ ’. Moments later, the door slid open and an old woman with whitening hair smiled.

“Ah, Kageyama-kun, it’s been a while.”

“It’s been a while.” he repeated, dipping his head. “My mom wanted me to bring you these.”

She smiled wide. Face wrinkling warmly, eyes crinkling kindly while her weathered hands took the bag from his, “Oh that’s sweet. Thank you. How have you been? Yumi says you’re in… the D-1 league was it?”

“I’ve been fine.” he said, shifting as the late spring breeze forced some of his hair into his face. “And I am.”

“How wonderful, she says it’s the best group to be in.” Aragaki hummed. “She misses you too, perhaps the next time you have time you could drop by the cafe?”

Tobio nodded, “I’ll try.”

She smiled again, she always smiled. “I’ll look forward to it then. Ah, wait here a moment.” She turned, a few wisps of her coarse hair escaping the tight bun at the back of her head. For a few seconds, she disappeared behind the abundant clutter of her house before she came back with a glass bottle to offer. “It’s vanilla milk.”

“Thank you.” He took the bottle from her and it chilled his hands, “Um, I have to go now.”

“Right,” she laughed, “Always busy I presume. See you next time, Kageyama-kun.”

He gave his own goodbye before turning to get back to his car. Tobio drove back to his apartment and sighed as he took the keys out of the ignition. He picked up the box and then pinched the bottle of milk between the top of the cardboard and his jaw. He made it back to his living room and set the box down on his table, a bit unbalanced while he went to put away the bottle in his fridge.

Tobio went to change back into his threadbare shirt and ugly but supremely comfortable sweatpants. Just as he returned to the kitchen for water he heard a thud come from the living room along with the sound of books sliding across his floor. One binder opened and all the music that he neglected to secure properly some indeterminate number of years ago ended up scattered all over. He murmured a soft curse and looked at the pool of sheet music mixed among various binders, folders, and books.

Kneeling down, he gathered the music together, studying the font of the staves and comparing it to other pages while also shuffling them into order. He sorted through three different pieces before his fingers stuttered on the next first page.

_Liebestraum No. 1 by Franz Liszt_

Slowly, he picked it up and studied it. His sloppy handwriting and markings in various spots and colors across the page. On the bottom in blue, waxy colored pencil, he had scrawled only one thing that didn’t pertain to how he should play the song.

_Play on Tooru’s birthday_

He blew a puff of air out of his nose and searched for the rest of the pages then shoved it back into the binder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did i jump on the chance to include miwa and their grandpa ? yes, but i think it works out well.  
> i hope everyone is staying safe and PLEASE stay inside if you are in an area with quarantine (barring that you are an essential worker) and PLEASE DO NOT TRAVEL during this time no matter how cheap airfare is, you can very much risk spreading the virus and PLEASE wear masks because "your mask protects me and my mask protects you".  
> i'm kind of just in shock right now with the virus because i suppose it's finally settled in for me that ya this is happening and i'm not just randomly staying in my house for an indefinite period of time (i am a-okay!). anyways, again, i hope everyone can stay safe and please be mindful of your health and others'!


	7. No. 6: Canzona

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobio was going to kill Hinata.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> literally wrote this in about two hours and it's a bit short (like all the other chapters aren't lmao)

“I’m baaaaack!” an unfortunately familiar voice cheered. An orange blur bounced through the parking lot with a wide grin and his luggage rolling behind him.

Tobio couldn’t stop the small smile that covered his face, “Welcome back.”

Hinata offered the widest shit eating simper, “Nice to see you Kageyama.”

“Nice to see you too, dumbass.”

Hinata balked, “I’ve been back in Miyagi for,” he clicked on his phone, “twenty-seven minutes and one of the first things you say to me is ‘nice to see you too, dumbass’. You’re still so rude!”

“Like you didn’t think about calling me the same thing.” Tobio scoffed, dodging Hinata’s swipe at his side.

“I wasn’t!” Hinata claimed indignantly. “When I asked you to drive me, I didn’t expect to be harassed within half an hour of getting back. I wish Natsu would see how mean you are.”

“I think Natsu would support my decision.” Tobio smirked as he popped his trunk.

Hinata couldn’t argue with that and instead he grinned, “I missed you.”

“Ew, don’t get mushy with me.”

“God you’re such an _asshole_.”

Tobio didn’t try to stop the bad natured grin that took hold of his facial muscles. Hinata remained unimpressed as he put his bag into Tobio’s car.

The ride from the train station to Hinata’s house took about an hour and a half. When they finally pulled up after a subsequent hour and a half of horrible music thanks to Hinata’s supremely shit taste, Hinata stepped out of the car and immediately found himself on the ground.

“Big brother!” Natsu cried, a wide, wobbling smile and happy tears streaming down her face. “I missed you so much! Don’t ever leave for that long again!”

“Sorry!” Hinata laughed, hugging Natsu tightly.

Tobio smiled faintly and folded his arms over the roof of his car while leaning on it, the ring of his keys secured around his finger. When Hinata’s mother and father came out and took over the happy crying, Natsu ran around the car and trapped Tobio in a steel wire grip.

“Tobio-san!” she cheered, squeezing him with an impressive amount of strength for a sixteen-year-old. “It’s been so long! You need to answer your texts more!”

“Sorry,” he apologized, squeezing her back, “I’ve been busy.”

She huffed and pulled away before pouting cutely, “Still.”

“Natsu,” Hinata’s mother said kindly, “I’m sure being a professional athlete doesn’t give Kageyama-kun a lot of free time. Come on Shoyo, bring your stuff in. Tama and Denta will be here in an hour or two. Kageyama-kun, would you like to stay for dinner?”

“I’m actually meeting someone for dinner.” Tobio said and Natsu grinned excitedly.

“Eh? A boyfriend?” she asked, jabbing Tobio in the side as if the information would spew out of his side if she poked hard enough.

Tobio shook his head and batted her hand away, “No, an old senpai.”

“That is going to be a boyfriend?” she asked with hope.

“No, he’s engaged.” Tobio said flatly.

Hinata looked up in interest, “Eh? Are you meeting Tanaka-senpai?”

The likeness between them went a lot further than looks, Tobio thought to himself. Not for the first time. He pushed Hinata away by the face, “No. Iwaizumi-san.”

“Seijoh’s ace?” Hinata asked in shock, “Woah! I didn’t know you still talked to him; does he still play volleyball?”

Tobio rolled his eyes, “Not everyone went on to become an athlete, you know.”

“So, you don’t know?”

Tobio pursed his lips, “No.”

Hinata laughed in his face and told him to say _hi_ to Iwaizumi for him.

“Have you ever even talked to him before?”

“I ran into him once at the bathroom.”

Tobio wondered if that was how Tsukishima felt.

Tobio walked into the small, hole in the wall restaurant and looked around for Iwaizumi. He found him near the corner and sat in the seat across from him, “Thanks for inviting me out.”

“It’s no problem.” Iwaizumi said, placing his menu on the table and shifting so his forearms crossed over the wood. “I’m glad you could make it.”

Tobio thanked the waiter that set a glass in front of him and then adjusted awkwardly in his seat. He always respected Iwaizumi; however, they never did become particularly close. Even when Tobio dated Oikawa, they hardly exchanged more than a few conversations that went like _“Hey”. “Hey”. “How are you?” “Good.” “That’s good"._ Tobio felt a bit out of his element sitting across from him without a social buffer.

“Hinata says hi.” he offered, picking up his menu.

“Ah, your old middle blocker, right? How is he, I heard he went to Brazil?”

“He’s good. He just came back, today actually.”

Iwaizumi reached over and swished the water around the ice in his cup, “That’s cool, tell him I said hi too.”

Silence. Tobio licked his lips and felt they were dry. He felt incredibly awkward and unsure, so he cleared his throat, “Why did you want to hang out?” Iwaizumi flinched and Tobio remembered Tsukishima telling him once that he sometimes came off unnecessarily blunt. He cleared his throat, “Sorry, I just meant it’s kind of odd for you to ask me to hang out since we never did before.”

“Oh. Well, after I saw you and… the guy with the glasses?”

“Tsukishima.” Tobio substituted.

“Yeah, after I saw you two, I thought that it might be nice to just catch up with you, but I didn’t really know who to ask for your phone number. When I saw you the other day at the store I figured now was as good a time as any. All things considered.” Iwaizumi shrugged.

Tobio didn’t really know what _all things considered_ meant. If it meant what he thought it meant, then yikes. He decided it best not to ask and simply offered a neutral response, “Oh.” A faint golden gleam caught his eye again, “Who are you engaged to?”

“Ah,” Iwaizumi smiled a bit and offered her name, “I met her in college. She’s really funny.” A low chuckle poked past his teeth while he twisted the band, “When I asked her a couple weeks ago if she wanted to get married, she just pulled out these rings and said _thank god you finally asked I was going to just put it on your finger in your sleep and see if you noticed_. I guess I was starting to stress her out.”

He showed Tobio a picture on his phone and Tobio smiled a bit, “She’s beautiful. And she sounds great. I’m happy for you.”

Iwaizumi’s fond smile turned sheepish, “Sorry, Oikawa tells me I turn into a major sap when I talk about her. I don’t mean to be so overbearing.”

“It’s fine, I’m glad you’re so happy.” Tobio assured. He pursed his lips a bit before the waiter came to take their orders. Once the waiter left, he picked at the seam of his turtleneck, “How is he?”

“Who?”

“Oikawa.” Tobio clarified.

Iwaizumi blinked several times, a weird expression passed over his face before he shrugged. “He’s fine. He’s looking for a team to play for but he’s also debating going back to school to finish up his degree.” A fond sigh left his lungs, “You know how he is, always an overachiever.”

Tobio wondered if Oikawa was thinking about it because he mentioned it that time at the store. Then, if they ran into each other again, Oikawa could rub it in his face. It seemed like a very Oikawa-like thing to do and the thought made him feel an odd sense of fondness. He nodded, “That’s nice for him.”

“Anything interesting been going on for you?” Iwaizumi asked.

“I actually got an offer to go abroad next year.” Tobio said and watched as Iwaizumi made another weird face. “Are you okay? Is your stomach sore?”

Iwaizumi ironed and starched his face into a relaxed expression, “No, I’m fine. I was just surprised. Where to?”

“Brazil, actually.” Tobio said absently, watching the food be set down. “I’m not sure if I’d like to go or not though.”

“Brazil is probably the best place to be if you want to play.” Iwaizumi said as he picked up some food, “Why aren’t you sure?”

Tobio shrugged and tucked the bite of noodles into his right cheek so he could speak, “Dunno. I guess I’m kind of attached to the team I’m on now. I have to give them an answer by the end of the season, but I just haven’t made up my mind yet.”

“Ah, well then you still have time to decide.” Iwaizumi smiled encouragingly.

Tobio notoriously sucked at reading people, but as he stared at Iwaizumi’s smile, he couldn’t help but feel something was weird about it.

Three days later, Tobio woke up from his nap (if you could call falling asleep at one and waking up at six a nap) to incessant knocking at his door. He rolled off his couch and trudged over to the door tiredly, his mouth felt awfully nap dry. He really wanted to get some intermittent nap water and then go back to sleep but whoever at his door would not stop knocking. He pulled open the door tiredly a greeting on his lips that promptly fell off.

“Haha, is that a sleepy Tobio-kun I see?”

Tobio pulled his face into an even flatter expression. His mood plummeted like a sharp instrument being tuned. “I’m not a pokemon, Miya-san.”

Miya Atsumu simply grinned and let himself in, completely ignoring the reply he just received, “Long time no see, Tobio-kun. I’m gonna be staying at your place for the week, ‘kay?”

Tobio was remarkably, supremely, insanely unimpressed. He sighed deeply, “Please leave, Miya-san.”

“Eh? But Shoyo-kun said you’d be okay with it.”

Tobio’s fingers twitched for his phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if u would like a song recommendation, conzona per sonare no 2 gives me good returning home vibes lol  
> also, idk if like a n y o n e else saw this but there was a drawing that furudate did but it had natsu and hinata and what looked like 2 older brothers and so i threw in a cameo lol.  
> and a l s o ik oikawa's been in like, 2 chapters but he's coming back i swear


	8. No. 7: French Overture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> he's going _insane_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am struggling to write miya pls forgive me  
> also kageyama is v done in this so he is v bitchy lolol  
>  **also pls read the end notes they're actually kinda important this time**

Miya was a horrible house guest. He left his things everywhere (“I don’t have a closet here”), literally kicked Tobio out of his own bed (“You should be a better host"), and demanded to be driven everywhere. In short, Tobio could already sense the nightmare the oncoming week would be.

“Hey,” Miya said, prodding Tobio’s cheek with the callous of his index finger, “Hey.”

Tobio kept his eyes trained on the email his sponsor sent him, typing out his reply without so much as reacting to the overgrown child currently invading his personal space.

“Hey.” Poke.

Tobio had grown miles in terms of patience since his high school years. Being a bitch didn’t always slide in the adult world so as any normal human would, he matured to adapt.

“Hey.” Poke.

Having a best friend like Hinata would also do that to a person. The bright orange air head hardly had any good ideas floating around in his empty head (there was a theory between Tobio and Tsukishima that Hinata survived off only one brain cell), thus patience became a necessity.

“Hey.” Poke.

Tobio really had matured since high school. His patience went on for _miles_.

“Hey.” Poke.

An ink colored eyebrow twitched. A foxy smirk threatened to split a pale face while lazily lidded brown eyes crinkled at the corners.

Again, Tobio possessed patience to rival the universe.

“Hey.” _Poke_.

“What the fuck do you fucking want?” Tobio snarled, whirling around to slap Miya’s hand away from incessantly prodding his cheek.

Miya simply smiled, leaning his elbow onto the table, and placing his chin in his hand. Miya probably believed the smile made him look angelic and innocent. Rather he looked like he was like a smiling demon promising only suffering in the form of eternal annoyance. “You’re so touchy Tobio-kun, but since you asked, I need you to drive me to see Shoyo-kun!”

“I’m kind of fucking busy right now,” a thin, perfectly manicured hand gestured to the screen of the laptop and Tobio turned his attention back away.

“Hey.”

“Get in the fucking car.”

_Sender: Kageyama Tobio  
_

_\- ur brother is a fucking nightmare_

_Sender: Miya Osamu  
_

_\- fucking tell me about it_

“Your music is so depressing; can we listen to something else?” Miya complained as he answered his own question by disconnecting Tobio’s phone from the car and connecting his own.

Instantly, bubbly pop music punched through the air absolutely ruining the vibe that Tobio’s music set. Bubblegum pop had never been Tobio’s taste. Too sweet, too loud, too aggressive on his ears. Though there was a time that he listened to it quite a lot at Oikawa’s insistence. He never got into it, but it did always seem to stick with the connotation of his ex. Like a little piece of Oikawa remained tucked away in his brain drawn out by the oddest little things.

“Why are you here?” Tobio asked, finally unwilling to sit in the ocean of confusion as he passively allowed Miya to tear through his life for a whole week.

“Shoyo-kun didn’t tell you? I’m helping him get set up for tryouts with my team,” Miya said casually, clicking a different song after only twenty seconds passed from the start of the last one. His thumb repeated that for every other song.

“He didn’t tell me which team he was planning to be on,” Tobio said. Apparently Shoyo neglected to tell him a lot of things.

Miya shrugged and clicked the skip button again.

Tobio would lose his mind before the end of the week, he was certain of it.

Tobio pulled up to the Hinata residence and Miya wasted no time in hopping out of the car. He followed, turning off the car and walked up to the porch where Hinata’s mother held the door open for him.

“Hello Kageyama-kun,” she said pleasantly, “how are you?”

“I’m well, thank you,” he replied while taking off his shoes. “You?”

“Good, Natsu is going to be excited to see you,” she hummed, closing the door behind him.

“Shoyo-kun!” “Atsumu-kun!”

Tobio watched unimpressed as both men embraced each other for a moment. They parted and Hinata grinned up at him, “Hey Kage—”

“I’m never picking you up again,” Tobio cut off.

Hinata gaped dramatically, “Eh?! What did I do?!” Tobio gestured to Miya and a guilty look crossed over Hinata’s face. He smiled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck, “Oh, well you wouldn’t have agreed if I told you so…”

Tobio remained impassive until Hinata sighed dramatically, “I’ll make it up to you! Promise!”

“Tobio-san!” Natsu cheered as she hurried into the living room, a volleyball tucked under her arm, “Teach me how to do your cool super set!”

“You wanna learn from Tobio-kun?” Miya asked, a sleazy grin in place. “I can teach ya’.”

“No, I’ve seen your games. Tobio-san is way better,” Natsu stated bluntly and he wilted.

Tobio smiled a bit, laughing through his nose, “Sure thing.”

He spent the rest of the morning bumping the ball to Natsu and giving her pointers while Miya and Hinata went over the more business side of volleyball try-outs, likely as well as other things such as where Hinata would live. Eventually, Hinata’s mother politely kicked them out because she had errands to run and demanded to make up for lost time with her youngest son.

Miya and Tobio bid them goodbye and started back on their way home.

“Let’s get something to eat,” Miya said.

Never mind.

Three days later, Sunday rolled around and with that the need to stock up on milk as well as other groceries. Before he could make his usual trip, however, Miya called him and demanded he get picked up after spending the morning with Hinata once again.

Tsukishima once (as in the last time they had lunch together and Tobio complained about how annoying Miya was) told him that he had a bad habit of letting other people walk all over him. Tobio disagreed at the time, citing the way he ordered his team around on the court and Tsukishima quickly countered with a “of course I mean outside of volleyball you ignoramus”. (If Tobio googled what ‘ignoramus’ meant no one needed to know.) Point is, Tobio began to see it as he pulled a U-ey and drove to Hinata’s house.

He stopped right in front of Hinata’s house and Miya climbed in.

“I’m hungry,” Miya said immediately.

“I have to do grocery shopping,” Tobio replied, “You can buy something at the grocery store.”

Miya huffed, “But I’m _hungry_.”

“We’ll have food at my house when we finish grocery shopping,” he said.

“You’re such a mom.”

“I’m a man.”

Miya laughed in his face and Tobio refrained from swerving into the side of the road just to end the torture.

At the grocery store, Tobio set Miya loose to pick out something to eat. Part of him told him that wasn’t such a good idea, but he tucked away the concern to focus on the task at hand. Milk selection.

Only the non-fat cartons were on sale that day so Tobio’s usual scapegoat question of ‘which one is cheaper’ went out the window. He absolutely refused to purchase non-fat for obvious reasons, so he ended up stuck between a very heated and important decision.

“Having trouble again?”

Was the universe’s motto just fuck Tobio or something?

He flicked his eyes up, furrow relaxing from his brow as he noted Oikawa’s beautiful, knowing grin. Brown eyes puffed up a bit at the bottom behind sleek glasses and his hair fell perfectly messy and curly as usual. Tobio cut himself short from checking out his ex. Miya was getting to him. _Miya was fucking getting to him_.

Speaking of which, he hoped Oikawa left before Miya found them because that was a disaster waiting to happen. Miya was like the slightly younger, sleazier, and exponentially more annoying version of Oikawa. Yes. That would be a shit show.

“Yes,” he answered honestly after remembering he had to answer to seem like a normal, functioning human being.

“If you’d see the wonders of non-fat milk you wouldn’t be in this position, dear Tobio-chan,” Oikawa declared hotly.

“There are no wonders,” Tobio countered.

“It’s healthier.”

“It’s not,” he said flatly. “We had this discussion already, college dropout.”

Oikawa grinned deviously, “Yes. And you’ll be glad to know that I’ve taken up classes again so my opinion is therefore more valid.”

Tobio could not believe that man. He rolled his eyes, “Ah, yeah. Iwaizumi-san mentioned you were starting up college again.”

“You spoke to Hajime?” Oikawa blinked; he lifted a finger to push up his glasses by the bridge while raising an eyebrow. “Since when did you talk to Hajime?”

Tobio shrugged, “I ran into him at the hardware store, he said he wanted to catch up.”

A look passed through brown eyes and he made a noncommittal noise, “Ah, how nice of him. He’s always been a nostalgic guy.” Tobio watched Oikawa’s gaze flicker behind him and a sinking feeling curdled in his gut.

The feeling only strengthened when he felt a presence behind him and saw a hand reaching for his cheek. He snatched the wrist before that stubborn finger met his cheek once more. He moved his eyes first and then his head followed to swivel and look at Miya.

“Ooh,” the brunet faked a violent shiver, “You’re so cold Tobio-kun, how do you expect to get any women like that?”

“I’m gay,” Tobio said flatly, “You know this.”

Miya grinned and Tobio felt that he just stepped into a bear trap. Pure, unadulterated mirth glimmered in his eyes, “I do, don’t I?”

“I’m kicking you out of my house,” Tobio declared, cheeks burning hotly.

“And leaving me on the cold hard streets in an unknown prefecture? _So cruel_ ,” Miya laughed before brandishing some _very_ expensive tuna. “Buy this for me, I want it.”

“No.”

“I’m your guest.”

“You’re a leech.”

“You’ll never get a boyfriend like that, Tobio-kun.”

“I don’t need one.”

Oikawa cleared his throat and they both looked at the taller man who smiled at them fakely. Miya smiled back, just as fake and Tobio could see the electricity crackle in the atmosphere.

“Who’s this?”

“My… This is Oikawa Tooru,” he said, pointedly ignoring the calculating look that both placed on him as he turned around to go back to deciding on what milk to choose.

Said man hummed airily, “Tobio-chan, how come you never told me you knew the Miya Atsumu?”

At that, he blinked in confusion. He furrowed his brows in thought, “I didn’t? We met at the national youth training camp in my first year.”

“Yep, me and Tobio-kun go way back. Don’t we?”

Tobio narrowed his eyes over his shoulder at Miya, “Uh, yeah? I’ve known Oikawa longer, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“That he has,” Oikawa agreed, just as fakely sweet as he’d been since Miya arrived. “Well then, I best be off. See you around, Tobio-chan?”

“Sure…” he mumbled suspiciously, finally making his decision and depositing four cartons of Ehime prefectural milk into the basket (upon closer inspection of the tags it was fifty yen off with a club card). He heard Oikawa walk away and once he disappeared behind a shelf Miya leaned into Tobio’s space with a devious look on his face.

“He’s totally your ex, isn’t he?” Miya asked.

A blush burned hotly on his cheeks as he ducked his head away. That was answer enough.

“That’s rich, really rich,” Miya laughed, “How long ago did you guys date?”

“My second year in high school,” Tobio grumbled as he walked over to the fish/butcher area and handed the cut back to the woman working behind the counter who did not seem happy at that.

“Hoo, that’s a while ago,” he hummed before another impudent grin akin to one a fox would give before striking its prey split his face in two. “He seems like he’s still into you.”

Blue eyes rolled. Hard. Tobio shook his head as he walked back to the vegetable section, “He’s not.”

“He totally is. He wouldn’t have gotten so riled about me messing with you if he weren’t. Trust me and my dating experience, he’s definitely into you. And you seem like you’re kinda into him. Maybe you should reconnect, get laid—”

“Miya-san, you’re being ridiculous,” Tobio said flatly, glaring at the man tailing him. “He does not have an interest in me.” Tobio wasn’t that dumb. He knew that Oikawa was just being friendly for propriety’s sake and nothing else.

However, Miya himself didn’t look too convinced. He shrugged, “Whatever you say.”

The fact that he wasn’t putting up a fight told Tobio that he wasn’t swayed in the slightest and he rolled his eyes once more.

_Sender: Miya Osamu  
_

_\- is my brother still being an ass?_

_Sender: Kageyama Tobio  
_

_\- yes, please make him leave_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some clarification in case it's needed: no, miya is not interested in kageyama (he's interested in someone else ehehe) but he's also the type of guy that would purposefully fuck with others so here we have it. RIP kageyama. also sorry if miya's characterization is off, it's hard for me to write him how he is currently in the manga but i hope it's not too distracting.  
>  **announcements**  
>  1) sorry again for the long wait ! a bit of a heads up, some not so good things b happening in my life rn so idk how sporadic/consistent i'll be with posting but hopefully i can get back on track. i'm okay, i'm not in danger but this month has been very wild for me.  
> 2) idk if this is overbearing or not but there are other parts to this story, if you'd like to check out the whole series ??? (is it annoying to promo myself ??) there are currently like 4 other parts to this story if you'd like to read them. idk how much of you are only reading this story but yk, if ur interested. mainly, i just realized that i tend to post a lot more announcements for this story in the semi-conjunction piece called _Thinking At Night_ so if ur at least interested in what i have in store you might want to check out the notes sections on that piece.


	9. No. 8: Bagatalle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> he wishes that he wouldn't be so awkward sometimes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, before you read this i would like to direct you to some petitions that you can sign for the BLM movement.  
> [[here]](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NvDKQRNHm1bZRR6Ods6jBygH8EMgQTm6lrof9PuAi58/edit)  
> it's a six page long document so please consider signing some of them ! also, here are a couple regarding rubber bullets and other harmful police control tactics.  
> [[here]](https://www.change.org/p/united-nations-ban-the-use-of-inhumane-rubber-bullets)  
> [[here]](https://www.change.org/p/uk-parliament-ban-the-use-of-police-horses-at-protests)  
> [[here]](https://www.change.org/p/u-s-house-of-representatives-ban-the-use-of-lrads-by-us-officers)  
> please consider signing at least some of them, thank you !

After a week of terror, Miya left in the middle of the night with only a note on his door saying _“thanks tobio-kun! you’re the best!”_ in the most atrocious handwriting Tobio ever saw and half his snack pantry cleaned out. He opened the door several times to check if Miya really left before resigning to laying down on his couch for a solid hour before he needed to get his run in before practice. He left his self-assessment of life choices for another day.

Practice went by as unbearably fast as it usually did and before he knew it, he was sitting in the locker room, replying to Yachi’s request to come over and play Animal Crossing. Tobio knew well enough that really, she just wanted to talk to him about her latest date with the grad student.

He showed up at her apartment at five thirty on the dot and Yachi answered the door looking awful. Her long blonde hair appeared as if it had not been brushed and she simply piled it into her head in the messiest bun he ever saw. There were dark bags under her bloodshot eyes paired with a sweater much too big for her that also looked suspiciously like one Yamaguchi used to wear in high school. Downbeat, depressing lo-fi music played in the background and Tobio frowned.

“Hey,” she said, offering her best smile. Her voice held a breathy rasp, as if she were too sad to put much effort into talking. “Thanks for coming.”

“Of course,” he replied, quietly pardoning his intrusion as he stepped in and kicked off his shoes.

“Would you like anything?” Yachi murmured, fiddling with the loose string at the hem of her sweater.

Tobio sucked his teeth to his lips in deliberation before he gently nudged her toward the couch, “I’ll get myself something.”

Normal Yachi would have protested heavily but now she looked too worn out to do anything but comply. She went over to the couch and hugged her legs to her chest while Tobio poured himself a glass of water and refilled her mug with tea.

He sat down next to her just as she pulled out her switch and handed him one of the controllers silently. Neither of them talked as they waited for the game to start up, only the gentle music of the island mixing with Yachi’s playlist in the air. Tobio gnawed on the inside of his lip as he fiddled with the controls.

He had no idea why Yachi asked him to be there for her now. If there were a list of people who one would want to be around during a time of sadness, his name would be near the absolute end. People frequently imparted to him that he was oblivious and awkward. Occasionally, Tobio wanted to argue that he spent twenty-one years with himself and therefore knew that while his intelligence lacked in certain areas it was more out of laziness and disinterest. But that didn’t exactly improve his image. He didn’t really classify himself as socially inept, rather he was simply and supremely awkward.

For instance, he experienced painful awareness that Yachi felt horrible, but he was at a loss for what to say. Yamaguchi excelled at comforting people and Tobio felt that it should be Yamaguchi sitting next to Yachi instead of him as Tobio held absolutely no sort of skill in that area.

But Tobio was there instead so he had to try his best.

He shifted when he heard her sniffle and looked over at her hesitantly, “What happened?”

Yachi burst into tears and Tobio burst into panic.

“I— I’m sorry,” he said quickly, reaching out hesitantly.

Yachi simply took the gesture as an invitation for a hug and burrowed into his side while she cried into his shirt. Tobio awkwardly pulled her into a hug for a good ten minutes until she pulled away sniffling with clumpy lashes and a flushed face. She frowned and dabbed at the tears on her cheeks.

“S-Sorry,” she whimpered.

“It’s fine,” he assured. His well-cared for, callus-less fingers peeled the shirt away from his person.

Yachi laughed in a self-deprecating manner, “O-Oh, my face is on your shirt. Sorry.”

Tobio looked down and noted the tears, snot, and spit all formed to stain his blue t-shirt with a crying face. He shook his head, “I don’t care. Uh… Do— Do you want to talk about it?”

He winced at his pathetic attempt at comforting; expected to see huge brown eyes swim in tears. But rather, Yachi just sighed deeply and slumped forward.

“He… He’s moving to Korea. He says he doesn’t want a long-distance relationship,” she mumbled.

A sickening gooey feeling twisted his gut like a guitar string being flattened mid-chord progression. An “ah” moment of sorts seeped into Tobio’s awareness. It suddenly made sense why Yachi would willingly ask him to come and comfort her instead of one of their other considerably more socially elegant friends.

He frowned deeply and bit the inside of his lip, dragging it between his teeth. Clearly, she wanted advice as to how to deal with the situation but what could he give her?

“I…” he started, struggling just to get something out for her. “It…”

Nothing came out. Yachi stared at him, searching brown eyes pleading for some sort of instruction because that’s what Yachi always sought. She needed guidance in things, needed more experienced people to build her confidence before she could use it.

Tobio shifted and nervously tucked his hair behind his ear. He swallowed and tried harder, “It’s gonna hurt for a while. But it uh… it gets better.”

Yachi slumped a bit, “Yeah… It just hurts a lot right now.”

He kept quiet as she withdrew into herself and Tobio wanted for once in his life to be good at something useful. Wiping his hands on his lap, he felt his jeans grow damp and the tiny blue fibers got stuck in the sweaty creases of his palms. Yachi sighed and excused herself to go to the bathroom.

He watched her walk away and cursed himself. His teeth ground together in a way that made the muscles in his jaw hurt. Wracking his brain, he thought back to what Tsukishima said to him five years ago.

Yachi walked back into the room and plopped onto the couch to grab her controller, started messing around with some flower beds to bring her focus elsewhere. Tobio also took his controller back up and started helping her.

Hesitantly, he started again, “When I was still upset about it, Tsukishima sort of said that he— I shouldn’t waste my time on someone that doesn’t make me happy and that… just because you’re sad doesn’t mean he should control your life. He uh… You should just try to focus on the things and people that you love that are in your life right now.”

Yachi stared at him for a minute and Tobio began fearing that he said the wrong thing again when she smiled at him. A tired, but warm smile that crinkled the corners of her eye nicely.

“He’s right. Thanks, Kageyama-kun,” she said quietly.

Tobio managed a small smile back that Yachi giggled at and they both sunk into her couch after they changed the music to something happier.

Tobio furrowed his brows as his phone went off from his nightstand. He refused to open his eyes and simply blindly felt around for his phone before his soft fingertips met with cool glass. Swiping his thumb across the screen, he held it up to his ear.

“Wuh duh yuh won,” he grumbled with his voice muffled in the pillow.

“Tobio,” his mother chastised, “Are you still sleeping? It’s one in the afternoon!”

“‘S m’ off day,” he murmured, rolling onto his back.

“Tsk, you and Mi-chan are so alike,” she sighed into the phone. “Anyways, can you do Aragaki-san a favor? She says she left some flour in her house that she needs but your father and I are at work.”

At that point, Tobio knew when his mother was politely ordering him to do something. He refrained from sighing and nodded even though she couldn’t see, “Yes mom.”

“Great. She says she keeps the spare key under the bonsai tree in the front yard,” she said. There was a brief, muffled conversation in the background and then her voice returned, “Thank you Tobi-tan, love you.”

“Love you too.”

The call ended and Tobio let out the sigh he kept in until that point.

“Oh! Thank you so much Kageyama-kun,” Aragaki said with a warm smile as he set down the flour bag in the kitchen area. “Go sit! I’ll get you something on the house.”

“It’s fine—”

“Nonsense, I’m grateful you took the time out of your day to help me. It’s the least I can do,” she insisted, shoeing him into the seating area.

“Hey grandma, did you get the—” A girl who looked about fourteen with stylishly curled hair and lip gloss gasped excitedly. Her face split in two with the large grin as she hurried forward to tackle Tobio into a hug.

“Tobio-san!”

“Yumi-san,” he said, awkwardly hugging her back.

She huffed and lightly pushed him, “How many times do I have to tell you? Yu-mi!”

“Yumi, sorry,” Tobio nodded.

She laughed and shook her head at him. She then sat back on her heels and clasped her hands behind her back with a shy, hopeful smile, “So… do you think you could play something for me?”

“I’m out of practice,” he replied honestly.

She frowned a bit before she looked down at the ground, “Could… I play something for you then?”

He softened a bit and nodded, “I’d like to hear you play.”

Yumi grinned and she quickly bounced over to the piano now more towards the corner of the seating area. She pushed him into the seat that always remained against the wall and plopped herself down on the bench that creaked and jostled a bit, just like he remembered it did when he used to play on it. She set her hands on the keys and tested them out. Tobio’s eardrums shook and he forced himself not to wince as the notes all sounded several decibels out of tune. Yumi didn’t seem to notice as she started the song without much preamble.

It was a nice simple song with a steady bass clef with little flourishes every other measure. He immediately recognized the composer, but he couldn’t name the song. Halfway through, Aragaki walked by and handed Tobio a cup of milk pudding, set two cups of water and some sort of chocolate pastry on top of the piano for Yumi whose concentration was briefly broken. Her fingers stuttered on the keys before they found their way again. She ended with a four-note chord that she released a little too quickly and looked up at him expectantly.

“So, how was it?”

“It was good,” he said simply, spooning some pudding into his mouth.

She laughed bashfully and played with the pendant around her neck, “Thanks. I’ve been practicing a lot. My teacher says I’m getting good.”

“You are,” Tobio agreed.

Yumi snickered, “You still suck at talking to people.”

“I-I don’t,” he said quickly. A light warmth pinched his cheeks at his embarrassment.

“That’s okay Tobio-san, it’s part of your charm,” she assured with a definitive smile. “Anyways, how have you been? I watch your games sometimes, but I don’t really get it, I’m not really good at sports stuff and grandma gets it even less than me.”

“I’m good, the season is starting soon so we’re practicing more,” he shrugged.

She hummed, “Yeah, I figured. But you should still come around you know! Me and grandma miss seeing you all the time, even Tooru-san comes more than you do and he’s not even on a team yet.”

Tobio blinked three times fast and then furrowed his brows while narrowing his eyes. Yumi noticed his expression and looked at him with a mildly concerned and confused look, “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” he said simply, wiping his left hand on his jeans. “He comes here?”

“All the time!” Yumi said with a slight smile and a bit of a blush. “He’s really cool and he also said that I’m getting really good at the piano. He even helps me with my homework sometimes. His apartment is a couple blocks away, so he comes here a lot after his classes.”

He felt like having a seizure but opted for drinking some water instead. Blankly, he nodded.

Yumi stared at him for a moment, “You know… I think he kinda misses you, Tobio-san.”

“What,” he said. Not as a question but as a blank, unregistering response.

“He asks about you all the time. If you’ve come in or went to see grandma, he looks sad when we tell him we don’t see you much.” Her tone was tentative, as if she were trying to test out the waters of the subject. She fiddled with two keys, a G-flat and the A-flat one whole step up, trilling them absently. “Do you… miss him too?”

“No,” Tobio blurted quickly. He shook his head and refrained from rolling his eyes, “He dumped me five years ago, I’m over it. And I’m sure he doesn’t miss me either, he’s not the type to get caught up on something like that and he said he wanted to focus on his career. I’m sure he did nothing but that.”

Yumi pursed her lips, “Well, maybe if you talked to him—”

“I don’t need to, Yumi,” he stated firmly. “Besides, I’m thinking of moving soon too.”

She frowned deeply, “Oh… Like… To another prefecture or…”

“To Brazil, next year. I’ve got an offer,” Tobio explained simply with the least amount of words possible.

“Oh…” she murmured dejectedly. “But…” She paused for a moment before clearing her throat, “Well, will you come around more before you leave? Grandma and I miss you.”

He pursed his lips before nodding, “Sure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***** small bit of information: in this universe i have a headcanon that kageyama has perfect pitch so he's extra sensitive to whether or not sounds are flat or sharp. you can google more about it but just thought it would be interesting for you to know as a reader :)  
> -  
> the plot will b t h i c k next chapter, might i just say. at least i think lol  
> but i guess i like making characters suffer ??  
> i think we're about a little over half way to this story ? tbh im really playing this by ear but know that ive got the end in sight, how many chapters it takes me to write it is still up in the air lol.  
> i forget if i mentioned it before but i do have another story for this series planned after this and im still committed to rewriting _Suite_. however, tbh im feeling kinda burnt out for this series so after this fic finishes i might write for other fandoms ? maybe ?? i'm not sure but definitely expect a small break from this series before i get back to completely finish this series, just a heads up.  
> (again, pls consider signing a few petitions. if you want to get through all of them but feel overwhelmed by the amount you can break it up to do a few a day. also i find it easier to do it on a computer so i can just ctrl-w all the tabs when im done)  
> a n y w a y s, thank u for reading, as always. sending all of u love <3


	10. No. 9: Scherzo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what the hell is going on ?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter... was so hard to write... i hope you all enjoy regardless

“I don’t get it.” Tobio wrinkled his nose. He jammed his eggplant tempura into the sauce, chopsticks held close to the top rather than near the middle, “That’s completely unreasonable.”

  
The end of the pre-season lay on the horizon like an oncoming sunset and before he knew it, the actual season began. Training was rigorous and it kept his muscles in a state of constant but satisfying soreness. ~~Un~~ Fortunately, that meant meeting up with Tsukishima got cut down considerably. Nonetheless, they still made time to see each other because they were good friends, despite how often they cursed each other.

“Thank you I had no idea,” Tsukishima confessed. His tone came off riddled with sarcasm but Tobio knew when Tsukishima felt distressed. A sigh left thin, pale lips and Tsukishima adjusted his glasses, “At this rate I’m honestly a little concerned I might not have time to stay on the team.”

Tobio bit into the perfectly soggy eggplant, “Well, you’re almost done right? You can hold out a little longer.”

“Thank you for your incredible sympathy, king,” Tsukishima sneered. “I wouldn’t expect someone who barely graduated high school to understand the plight of a senior in college.”

“I had a seventy percent average.”

“Yeah and I had a ninety eight percent average in the college prep-stream, clearly there’s a difference.” He tossed Tobio his onion and carrot tempura and stole his gari.

“Hey—”

“Did you know the grand king goes to my school now?”

Tobio blinked and then shrugged, “Okay.”

“I think he’s studying nutrition.” Tsukishima tried to filch the tsukemono but Tobio thwapped Tsukishima’s chopsticks with his own. They then engaged in a stiff battle for a moment until Tsukishima gave for a second and then redirected Tobio’s utensils to snatch the vegetables.

“Yes, I know, Iwaizumi-san told me. Stop stealing my pickles, bastard,” Tobio grumbled. “Eat your own food.”

“We have an exchange going.”

“You’re just stealing my shit.”

“Since when have you been talking to Seijiou’s ace?” Tsukishima asked, ignoring the accusations.

Tobio stole the shrimp directly out of Tsukishima’s pinch, “We bumped into each other a couple months ago.”

Tsukishima narrowed his eyes at Tobio and then closed his eyes as he drank the tea set to his left. He combed through his pretentiously styled hair and then pushed up his glasses, “That’s interesting.”

“Huh?” Tobio squinted at Tsukishima and furrowed his brows. He shifted and tugged on the strings of his black hoodie and wrinkled his nose, “What do you mean by that?”

“I just think it’s interesting that your ex-boyfriend shows up after five years and then his best friend starts seeking you out to, what? ‘Catch up’?” Tsukishima hummed.

Tobio stopped eating and frowned, “What are you saying?”

A scoff left Tsukishima’s lips. He leaned forward and rested his chin in his hand, “You’re an idiot.” Before he could say anything, Tsukishima went on. “I’m saying I think it’s weird that someone who didn’t care about you for years suddenly showed interest in you.” He pointed his chopsticks in the other man’s face, “As much as I hate to say it, you’re a good person and you forgive people easily but you’re also way too trusting. People don’t always have your best interest in their concerns. To me, it sounds like Iwaizumi-san might be more interested in helping Oikawa than you.”

Tobio went silent for a moment. He shook his head, “Iwaizumi-san wouldn’t hurt me.”

Tsukishima shrugged and stole more of the gari from Tobio’s plate, “It’s just a thought. You should watch your back, king. A peasant might come around and overthrow you.”

“Romero-san!” Tobio called as he set the ball.

Within a second, Romero slammed it down and landed back on the floor. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and turned to offer a blinding smile that emphasized the smile lines under his beard and around his light-colored eyes. He looked painfully attractive that way. Tobio zoned out for a moment as he got distracted by the way his outside hitter pushed his dark wavy hair out of his face.

“Nice one! That felt like a really good hit!” Romero said with a near unintelligible accent.

Tobio hardly ever understood a word he said but the gorgeous grin was enough to make him flush from more than exertion. He flushed brighter when Romero threw a well-built arm over his shoulders and pulled him close to ruffle his hair. Romero gestured with his hand to another teammate and Tobio’s eyes caught on the silver band hanging from a chain on his neck.

Yes. Romero was very straight and also happily married with child.

The man in question turned to pin Tobio with another blinding smile and he felt his cheeks heat up again. A bright laugh left his mouth and he ruffled Tobio’s hair once more, “You are very good!”

Tobio was not so straight. Especially when it came to very tall, very athletic men with messy hair and beautiful smiles.

“Alright, that’s enough for today,” their coach called. A fiery middle-aged woman with a weathered, tan face and a strong build. “Cool down and then get out, I don’t want to see anyone staying late. Our game in Nagano is next week, resting is just as important. If any of you end up hurt, I will personally dock your salary for the next three games.”

“Can she really do that?” Heiwajima whispered.

“Would you like to find out?” Hirugami asked serenely.

After stretching, Tobio heard their coach yell, “And no drinking! I’ll do urine tests!”

“Ah man!”

Tobio took a shower in the locker room and pulled on a blue turtleneck and some jeans before checking his phone. He saw another text from his mother.

_Sender: Mom  
\- Hello Tobi-tan, I hope you have everything ready for your trip next week. Make sure you stay safe! Anyways, do you mind dropping off some more flour at Aragaki-san’s cafe?_

_Sender: Tobi-tan_  
_\- yeah_  
_\- is it in the same place ?_

The moment that Tobio walked into the cafe, he knew his life was a joke.

Yumi sat at a table. She talked excitedly about something and showed pictures on her phone to the person across. Her smile stretched wide to show off her wired teeth and she nodded at something they said. The man used his hands to make light, flimsy gesticulations before laughing clear and bright.

Tobio hunched over and turned his head and hoped he wouldn’t be recognized. He shifted the bag of flour under his arm and stuck close to the wall to reach the register where Aragaki smiled at him gratefully.

“I have the flour,” he grumbled quietly. He set the bag down on the counter and dusted the powder off his shirt and pants.

“Thank you,” Aragaki grinned. She brushed some sleek grey hair out of her face, “I’m sorry for bothering you with this, I really must be getting old if I’m forgetting this often.”

Tobio shrugged, “It’s fine. I was done with practice anyways.” He didn’t dare turn around to check if anyone looked at him. Instead, he dipped his head politely,

“If that’s all, I’ll be off.”

“Just wait one second, I’ll get you some milk pudding for you to take home,” Aragaki smiled and turned away before he could say anything.

Tobio pursed his lips and hunched over more. He prayed that Yumi keep up the conversation but, all too naturally…

“Tobio-san, if you hunch over like that all the time, you’ll get scoliosis!” Yumi laughed.

He bit down a curse and turned his head to stare defensively, “I won’t.”

“You will,” Oikawa said with a pretty smile. He tilted his head, “Hiding from me?”

Tobio glared, “No.”

Oikawa laughed and Yumi giggled along. She then walked over to give Tobio a hug. When she pulled away, she noticed his outfit, “Woah, you dressed up! Are you going somewhere?”

Tobio’s face pinched intensely and he ground his teeth together, “... No… Miwa showed up at my house with trash bags and threw out half my closet.” He remembered her flipping him off and flicking him in the forehead when he tried to protest, and she said:

_“You used to have such a cute style in high school and now you look homeless. It’s the opposite of what’s supposed to happen, dumbass. As someone in the fashion industry, I refuse to have my brother walk around like a hobo all the time. Clean yourself up!”_

He pinched his eyebrows closer together at the memory and reminded himself to show up at her house and take all her milk the next time he was in Tokyo.

Aragaki came back with a smile, “I haven’t seen Miwa-chan in a while, how is she?”

“She’s fine, she’s still working at her same job,” he said. He took the container that the woman handed him, “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem! You’re always such a lifesaver.”

“Tobio-san, can you come play something? Please?” Yumi pleaded. She clasped her hands together and gave her best puppy dog eyes.

He wiped his hands on his pants and looked away, “Sorry, I think I should actually be going now. I have to pack.”

Yumi deflated a bit but tried not to show it, “Okay. Next time?”

“Next time,” he confirmed without really meaning it.

“I’d better get going too,” Oikawa hummed as he checked the time on his phone. He pulled his book bag over one shoulder and smiled, “I hope those questions make sense now.”

“They do!” Yumi affirmed. “By Tobio-san, Tooru-san!”

“Stop by again soon,” Aragaki added.

Tobio nodded stiffly and looked to where Oikawa smiled at him while holding the door. He stared for a moment before ducking out and putting his hands in his pockets. He hoped they would end up walking in different directions, but Oikawa stayed off to his side, probably because the train station resided in that direction.

He sucked the extra air out of his mouth and chewed on his tongue and cheeks awkwardly. Oikawa either noticed his pain and wanted to ease it or decided he wanted to add onto it.

“How do you think you’ll do in Nagano? Your team lost to theirs last year, right?”

He brushed some hair out of his eyes and ignored the nervous flutter in his stomach, “Yeah. They’ve got good digs, but our team is doing pretty well this year. I think we have a good chance of beating them.” Tobio slid his gaze up to Oikawa and then looked back ahead, “Have you tried out for a team yet?”

“No. The only team that was doing tryouts when I got back was MSBY, but it didn’t seem like a good fit. I’m gonna try out for Niigata and Tokyo after the season ends.” Oikawa patted his bag, “But for now I’ll just focus on studying. My mom really wants me to get a degree." He pulled the strap higher on his shoulder, “I hear you’re moving to Brazil like Shouyou did.”

Tobio furrowed his brows and thought back to when he told Iwaizumi. He scrunched his nose a bit and shrugged, “Yeah. I got an offer to play over there.”

“Hmph, that’s pretty far away from home. Sure you can manage all by yourself?” Oikawa teased with a playful smile.

“Better than you no doubt.”

“Of course, little Tobio-chan would eventually leave the nest. Abandoning everyone to go chase his dreams.”

An ugly feeling seeped into his stomach. Tobio stopped walking and turned to level a challenging glare, “Isn’t that exactly what you did?”

Oikawa blinked and halted in his steps too. Something like hurt flashed through his eyes before it quickly got covered up by a sneer twisting his nose and lips, “Well, sorry. Not everyone was picked up by the national team the moment they graduated high school.”

“Fuck,” Tobio blew a sharp breath out of his nose, “Don’t start this, I’m not in the mood.”

“Start what?” Oikawa inquired innocently.

With a harsh click of his tongue, Tobio made a sharp wave of his hand. Irritation already built up just from a few moments of talking. Something about Oikawa’s flimsy tone rubbed him the wrong way. It felt like there was something he wanted to say but wouldn’t and it pissed Tobio off. “This! The fucking— the— the thing you do! You’re being such a jackass! You— You can’t say anything about what I’m doing.”

Oikawa’s mouth parted; surprised and affronted by the sudden burst. He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes in a cutting manner, “Can’t I?”

“You’re not my fucking boyfriend anymore so no, I think the fuck not,” Tobio huffed.

“You’re so immature.” Oikawa rolled his eyes. “What are you? Sixteen?”

“I’m immature? That’s fucking rich coming from you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I said what I fucking said.”

“Fuck, you make everything an argument.”

“At least I can confront things instead of running away like you do,” Tobio spat.

Oikawa froze with wide eyes. His skin, tanner than in high school, paled in shock.

Tobio clicked his tongue again and snapped his head away, “If there’s something you want to say, just fucking say it. I can’t read your mind, Oikawa-san.”

“I haven’t got a single fucking thing I want to say to you.” With that, Oikawa sent one last glare in Tobio’s direction and spun on his heel to cross the street.

He forgot how much of a liar Oikawa was.

Tobio sat across from Iwaizumi who looked unsure and uncomfortable.

After his argument with Oikawa, he thought about what Tsukishima said for a long time. It weighed heavily on him while he ran, packed, cooked, showered. Finally, he asked Iwaizumi to get dinner with him.

No doubt Oikawa already relayed their argument to Iwaizumi but Tobio couldn’t care less.

They already ate and now they just waited on the check. Iwaizumi shifted in his seat and inclined his head forward, “Is something bothering you?”

“Does being friendly with me have anything to do with Oikawa-san?” Tobio asked. Blunt and to the point as always.

Iwaizumi stopped for a moment and a guilty expression flitted across his face. Tobio frowned deeply. A tired sigh went through Iwaizumi’s lungs and he sat back, “Not in the way you’re thinking.”

“I don’t know what to think about it at all,” Tobio said.

A confused squint pinched the corners of Iwaizumi’s eyes before it relaxed as he did, “I’ll be upfront and say that I just thought I could somehow get you two to talk it out.”

“Talk what out? We don’t have anything to talk about,” Tobio said in complete honesty.

“Well, maybe you don’t have anything to talk about with him but I know there are things he wants to say to you,” Iwaizumi used the heel of his palm to rub over his eye tiredly. “It’s not really my place to say but… You mean a lot more to him than you think. He feels… bad. About… the way you two broke up.”

That made Tobio push his lips out slightly, “It’s been five years.”

“I know. He knows too but he’s always going to be the same, worrying about things long after they happened,” Iwaizumi sighed.

“If he feels bad then tell him not to. I don’t hate him for it or anything. It sucked at the time, but I’m not upset about it now.”

Iwaizumi gave him a complicated look too muddled for Tobio to decipher. He sighed deeply, “He’s petty and annoying but he has a hard time saying what he wants. I know it’s a lot to ask, but if he ever seeks you out, could you just listen to him?”

Something like shame tapped Tobio on the back. His shoulders drooped a bit and he looked down at the empty plate. Maybe he shouldn’t have snapped like that, but Oikawa always made him feel such visceral emotions. Whether it had been love or hatred or hurt, all of it felt so strong when caused by him. It also felt complicated.

There wasn’t any one word that could describe his feelings about Oikawa at any time. The amount of layers to their relationship outnumbered the ones to any of his others. He would always have admiration and respect, always feel irritation and annoyance, always…

Tobio twisted his neck and the vertebrae gave a satisfying pop, “Yeah.”

Tobio toed off his shoes in his genkan and nudged them over to his shoe rack. He walked into his apartment and set his things down before going to his kitchen to pour himself some of the tea from the two-liter bottle he kept in the fridge. The plastic chilled his fingers and he noticed that there were calluses forming on his fingertips. He frowned and looked at his hands.

He’d always been sensitive to the state of his hands. Unclipped nails, dead or dry skin on his knuckles, calluses on the tips of his fingers. All of it bothered him. He made a mental note to take care of it before he left for his game.

His phone rang.

He furrowed his brows at the caller but answered regardless.

“Hello?”

“Hey! Kageyama!” Tanaka said brightly. “It’s been a while, how are you?”

“I’m good. How are you?”

“Good, good. Things are pretty good. Wedding planning is a hassle but it’s all worth it for Kiyoko.”

“Oh, right. Congratulations.”

Tanaka snorted and laughed loudly, “You never change. Thanks.”

Tobio didn’t understand what that meant but didn’t comment on it.

“Anyways, about the wedding… I’ve got a huge favor to ask you.”

The nerves in his stomach frayed and his eyes went wide, “Uh, I don’t think I should be your best man.”

“Pfft!” Tanaka cackled with as much gusto as ever and Tobio pulled the phone away from his ear. A minute of just howls went by until Tanaka calmed down enough, “Hell no! I’d never make you my best man! Sorry Kageyama.”

“I’m not offended,” Tobio said. “What is it you need then?”

“You said you played the piano back in high school, right?”

“Yes. You all forced me to play the anime theme songs when you came over to my house.”

Tanaka chuckled, “Right. So, uh… Do you think you could play something for our wedding? Of course, it doesn’t have to be anything crazy, but Kiyoko wants a western wedding and, er, we thought it might be nice to have you play something for a couple of our dances.”

Tobio felt shocked at the request. He glanced over at the box sitting in the corner of his room filled with music. He nodded, “Sure.”

Tanaka let out a breath of relief, “Thank you. We’ll pay you, obviously.”

“That’s not necessary,” Tobio assured. “Just let me know which songs and I’ll get them ready. Do you have a date yet?”

“No, but we’re looking at some time in the late spring.”

“Alright.”

“Hahh, thanks Kageyama. I owe you big time!”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Tobio pulled the phone away from his ear and saw that Tanaka already hung up. He looked back at the box of music and then to the room with nothing but a couch.

Well then, he needed to buy a piano.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i kind of love the thought of kageyama being like "i have no idea what this man is saying but he's _hot_ " lmao so i threw it in for my own amusement.
> 
> but wow. i'm kind of shocked that haikyuu actually ended, it feels so weird and a bit like the end of an era. all the series i grew up watching are ending/have ended. one piece, naruto, etc. it's kind of surreal. anyways, let's discuss how tendou literally moved to france to become a chocolatier and nishinoya is just travelling the world with asahi. truly a friendship for the books haha


	11. No. 10: French Overture (II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they're getting somewhere

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> word is still being problematic so some grammar is likely messed up, please let me know if you spot anything !

The game in Nagano went as well as Tobio hoped it would. His outside hitters smacked every ball he set to successfully overwhelm the other team’s attempts to receive. All too easily he got in service aces and his sets scored them easy points.

It made him consider.

He skimmed the email his team manager forwarded him about an offer to play for some Brazilian team interested in his setting. They still awaited a response from him and Tobio didn’t know if he truly had one. But if he wanted to play even harder opponents, it would be best if he left Japan. He looked out of his apartment window.

The city sprawled in a neat, uncondensed way. Buildings packed together with enough space for breathing room and trees sprouted from the places in between. Lush green still peeked through unlike in even more urban areas down in Kanto or Kansai. He wondered how much he would miss the clear air and clearer skies if he were to move somewhere else. If he would miss it at all.

Tobio felt restless. Like something was calling him away from where he stood. He wanted to see and he wanted to get out. He saw Sapporo and Tokyo and Osaka and Yokohama already. He knew the best restaurants to eat at in most prefectures and which trains to catch to get anywhere. For most of the year he travelled around the country and for the past three years he participated as the setter for the national team (a position which he occasionally exchanged with Miya). Still, something inside him itched.

He pulled his legs up to his chest and shifted to rest his phone on his knees. Idly, he brought his hand up to twirl some of the long bangs Miwa told him to try the last time he went to get his hair cut. He didn’t know if he liked having his forehead exposed or not but she said it framed his face well. (She called his face "small" too, whatever that meant.)

He sighed and dropped his head back with his eyes closed.

His phone blipped with another notification.

Tobio pulled his head back up and saw another email. He clicked on it and his finger stuttered over his phone screen.  


_ Ali Roma _

He stared for a moment until a knock startled him out of his focus.

Tobio got up from his comfortable, brown leather sofa that definitely saw better days two owners ago. But he’d gotten it for barely more than it would cost to buy an expensive dinner so he didn’t care.

Another knock sounded and Tobio rolled his eyes, he knew exactly who that was.

He pulled open the door and disinterested dark eyes stared at him.

Speak of the devil.

“Hey loser, I have the keyboard,” Miwa said as she walked into his apartment carrying the cross fold stand.

“Thanks,” Tobio said. He looked back out into the hall, “Where is it?”

“In my car,” Miwa said plainly as she started going through his snack cupboard. “That thing’s like thirty five kilograms, I’m not carrying that all the way up here. You’re lucky I even drove all the way up here just to deliver it to you. Go get a work out, mister athlete.”

Tobio rolled his eyes and took her keys from her bag.

After a short, tedious trip of trying not to drop a thirty something kilogram keyboard on his feet or on the ground, he made it back in. With absolutely no help from Miwa, of course.

He picked up the keyboard and set it onto the stand. He plugged in several cords into various places and then clicked the red button hidden on the back. After hitting middle C five times, the sound began coming though the low quality speakers in a crunchy, not entirely enjoyable sound. With an offensively yellow microfiber cloth, he wiped down the keys and the notes sounded in halted, dissonant succession from the highest C to the lowest A.

Tobio cringed at the quality of the tone and decided he probably needed to get a better speaker cable.

“How old is this thing again?”

Miwa looked up from where she sat on his counter, eating away at all his Karamucho. Tobio frowned as Doraemon grinned back at him tauntingly.

“I think it’s older than you.” She pulled a thin leg up to rest her elbow on, “We had that before we had the baby grand. I haven’t used it since college.”

“Right. Tell me why you thought you could pursue a music degree after not playing for three years?”

A potato stick hit his arm with surprising force. The red dust instantly stained his white long-sleeved shirt. He glared and Miwa grinned, matching Doraemon as they both laughed at his misfortune.

_Sender: Kageyama Tobio  
\- where does he live ?_

_Sender: Iwaizumi Hajime  
\- … should I be concerned?_

Tobio knocked on the door to the apartment and then immediately regretted it and debated running away. Dread knotted his insides together and made him feel heavy and the anxiety gave him an uncomfortable lightness. Never let it be said that Tobio was ever short on bad ideas and even worse decisions.

Maybe he was out? Maybe Iwaizumi gave him the wrong information by accident?

He had to leave.

Tobio about faced on his heel and left. Tried to leave at least.

“Were you seriously about to ding, dong, ditch me?”

Tobio froze and turned around. Oikawa squinted at him judgmentally with his upper lip pulled up over his gums and his tall, straight nose scrunched so hard his glasses got pushed higher. His hair fell in messy, disarrayed waves and he wore ratty, coffee stained sweatpants with a shirt that looked like it ran on the last threads of it’s eighth life. The fact that Oikawa still looked gorgeous in his ugly mode pissed Tobio off.

“Yeah,” Tobio answered plainly.

“What are you? Ten?”

“Twenty one, actually.”

Tobio _actually_ wanted to run away then. Confrontation came easy to him. Hinata often loudly boasted that Tobio didn’t hold back at all when telling someone off. But somehow, apologizing felt different and made him want to crawl under a rock to hide for the rest of his life.

Oikawa squinted harder and scoffed, “Yeah, okay. Goodbye—”

“Wait,” Tobio said quickly. He sighed and prepared his next words thoughtfully.

“Nope, not waiting. Get out of my building.”

He blinked. “I just—”

“Anyone hear anything?”

“Are you—?”

“Huh? Think I’m hearing things, maybe this place is haunted.”

“Oikawa-san—”

“This really is so strange, I could have sworn I heard my name.”

“You—”

“Maybe I should find a medium.”

Tobio stared incredulously. He then realized that Oikawa wasn’t closing his door and his eyes sparkled with mirth. Tobio certainly did not pout when he reached into his bag to throw a package right into Oikawa’s face.

“Ow! I’m wearing glasses!”

“Stop teasing me!” Tobio huffed with burning cheeks. He felt like a middle schooler all over again, watching his senpai pull stupid faces at him.

“You come into my apartment building, you cherry knock my door, and then you _assault_ me—!”

“You were being irritating!”

“—with my own favorite food! You really are the rudest person I know,” Oikawa continued. He dangled the squished melon bread by the corner of its crinkled package and wiggled his finger in a ‘tsk’-ing manner. “Tobio-chan, hasn’t anyone taught you manners? What would your beloved mom think of you now?”

Oikawa knew all his weak spots.

Tobio flushed darker and pulled his shoulders up, “Sh-Shut up! You’re so dumb!”

“Uh-oh, is Tobio-chan experiencing age-regression? And he was so mature as to not yell before.”

“I swear to fu—”

“Uhm,” a new voice said. Both Oikawa and Tobio turned to look at a tall woman holding her child’s hand. “Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt your… conversation… Can I get through?”

Tobio turned even redder and moved so he wasn’t in the way. He bowed, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” the woman said slowly. She tugged the child forward and power walked away.

Tobio’s head snapped in the direction of Oikawa’s bright laugh and glared. Oikawa’s own cheeks appeared the slightest bit flushed but he seemed more amused than embarrassed. He opened the door wider and gestured for Tobio to enter.

“You are the _worst_ ,” Tobio mumbled as he ducked into the apartment.

“I try my best at everything,” Oikawa lightly hummed. “I’m keeping the milk bread, just so you know.” He held up the package in front of Tobio’s face and shook it like a bag of dog treats.

Tobio sighed as he kicked off his shoes, “It’s fine, it was for you anyways.”

Oikawa side-eyed him for a moment. He walked into his kitchen and set down the pastry, the plastic rustled the whole way, “Do you want anything to drink? I’d offer you milk but you don’t like non-fat.”

“I’m good. I have to get to practice soon anyways.” Tobio swallowed, “I just… came to apologize.”

Oikawa halted and looked up from where he busied himself with his fridge. A calculating look crossed his face, “For what?”

“Last week. When we argued.” Tobio wiped his hands on his jeans awkwardly. “I… I was just angry because it felt like you had something to say but you didn’t want to say it. Which is fine, you don’t have to say anything you don’t want to. I was unreasonable.”

A bout of silence passed between them. Oikawa turned away and pulled a two-liter bottle of tea, the same brand Tobio bought, out of his fridge and twisted the cap. “Wow, you’ve grown up. Getting an apology from you before would have been like pulling teeth.”

Tobio blanked. He opened his mouth but Oikawa went on looking pointedly ahead.

“I’m sorry too. There’s… shit that I’m working on. I didn’t mean to come off as antagonistic.”

Another round of silence filled the air of the room like a blanket of awkwardness that twisted Tobio’s skin. He pushed some hair out of his face and nodded,

“It’s fine. Uh…” He glanced at the neon green time on the microwave. “I should go then. Practice starts soon.”

“Right. Thanks.” Oikawa nodded to him. “For coming and for the milk bread.”

“Yeah, uhm…” Tobio shifted his weight between his feet.

“Bye?” Oikawa supplied gently.

“Bye.” Tobio agreed. “Yeah, uh, bye. Sorry again for… you know. And throwing that. At your face.”

A laugh shook Oikawa’s shoulders gently and he smiled a smile that made Tobio’s heart involuntarily flutter. “Just get to practice, Tobio-chan.”

“Hey, Kageyama,” Tanaka said cheerily.

“Hello,” Tobio replied. He used his shoulder to keep the phone up while he grabbed the pan with one hand and used his spatula to flip the fish with the other. “Did you decide on any songs?”

“Yeah, actually— oh, one second,” Tanaka said. There was a rustling of paper and what sounded like a short discussion with Shimizu. “Okay, yeah. We want a couple classical songs and then some better ones for dancing. Kiyoko’s mom really wants you to play during the ceremony, I hope that’s fine.”

That sounded like a lot of music he had to prepare in only six months. During League season nonetheless. Tobio scrunched his nose as he went to go fluff his rice, “Uh, what are the songs?”

“Oh, well during the ceremony she wants uh… _Kura de run_?”

Tobio supplied the Japanese translation and Tanaka made an affirmative noise, “Yeah, that one! Kiyoko’s mom just sent us a link for an English recording. Is that one okay?”

“Yes, I have the sheet music for that already,” Tobio said. He honestly hadn’t expected a different song. Maybe Pachelbel’s Canon in D—

“Okay and she wants Pachebel’s Canon or something.”

There it was.

“Sure, what else?” Tobio picked up the fish off his pan and set it onto the plate then put the pan on an unused burner.

“I honestly don’t know how to pronounce this one. What’s with all these foreign names being so hard? What is this… _Ri-Ribesu—_?” Tanaka cut himself off. “On second thought, I’ll just send you the links. I’m getting a headache just by looking at all this English.”

“It’s German,” Shimizu’s voice chimed in helpfully.

“They’re basically the same thing!”

Tobio wiped his hand on his apron and grabbed the phone, “Just text me what you want. I’ll tell you if there’s a problem.”

“Alright,” Tanaka sighed in a tired way Tobio never thought he would hear. “Thanks again.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Tobio answered.

Halfway through his dinner, Tobio’s phone went off with a message. He hit the space button on his laptop to pause the rerun of his Nagano game.

_Sender: Tanaka-senpai  
\- Hey dude, here’s the list. I found the Japanese names (￣▽￣)b_

Tobio placed his thumb on the cool screen, ready to scroll down when he saw the title at the top of the list.

愛の夢 第1番 変イ長調

He blinked.

Lists’s first Liebestraume. His personal favorite out of the three and also the only one he ever tried to learn.

He sniffed. At least he already had the sheet music.

“Woah! It’s been so long since we’ve got together!” Hinata cheered as he jumped into the empty seat next to Tobio like a child. He showed off his horribly wrapped present and waved it dangerously over the hotpot in the middle of the table. “Happy birthday Yamaguchi!”

“Yet I feel like nothing’s changed,” Tsukishima said in his usual bland tone. He threw another vegetable into the pot.

“Thanks Hinata!” Yamaguchi smiled. He took the small package and placed it next to the small pile of other ones he received.

“I haven’t seen you in years and this is how you speak to me? You and Tobio-chan are the same!”

Tobio whipped his head around, “What the fuck did you just call me?”

“Sorry! Oikawa just calls you that all the time and so it slipped out!” Hinata said quickly.

Tobio stared while Yachi and Yamaguchi laughed in the background. He narrowed his eyes, “Why do you talk to him?”

“We text all the time!” Hinata grinned. “After we met in Brazil we’ve been messaging. He’s really fun to talk to.”

“Please stop, I feel like my privacy is in danger just by knowing either of you,” Tobio plucked some beef out of the pot and put it into his small bowl.

“Ru-ude!”

“I’m glad you could make it today,” Yachi cut in with her adorable smile. “We missed you when you first got back. I wanted to hang out but senior year of college is brutal.”

“Ugh, don’t even get me started,” Yamaguchi whined. “All my professors are intense.”

“Oh to be an idiot that can just throw their life away at a ball,” Tsukishima lamented sarcastically.

Tobio stared, “Didn’t you tell me—”

“I’m gonna stop you right there because whatever you’re about to say is going to sound moronic.”

“Spill, spill, spill!” Hinata said.

“Why don’t you spill about your relationship with a certain MSBY setter?” Tsukishima asked with a pleasant smile.

Everyone went silent and stared Hinata down as he went redder than the fall themed noren curtains hanging at the front of the restaurant. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish several times. Incomprehensible, squeaky, stuttery noises fell out of his mouth until he hid his face in his hands, “ _Tsukishima_! How do you even know about that?!”

“Wait, what?” Yamaguchi blinked several times, trying to put the situation together.

Yachi put a hand over her mouth, “Do you mean Miya-san?”

Tobio raised an eyebrow, “You’re gay?”

“Don’t say it like that!” Hinata scolded him with a slap to the arm. “Seriously, Tsukishima, how did you know?!”

“My last game was in Osaka and I ended up eating at Onigiri Miya,” he supplied helpfully with a serene smile that sparked unease for the rest of the group. “I seem to have bonded with him over annoying former teammates-slash-brothers.”

“Don’t be mean, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi said absently.

Hinata threw himself back against the tatami of the booth with his hands covering his red face, “ _Wah_! This is so embarrassing!”

“You’re gay?” Tobio repeated.

“Ugh, I mean, I don’t know. I like girls for sure but also guys. Like, honestly I totally had a crush on Yamaguchi in third year and I most definitely thought that you were hot.”

“You say that in past tense, I’m still hot,” Tobio scoffed.

Yamaguchi nodded with the wisdom only attained by being friends with emotionally challenged people for far too long, “Yeah, I knew it.”

“Huh?! You knew I liked you?!”

“Uh, yeah?” Yamaguchi raised an eyebrow and leaned his head forward in a sassy motion. “You literally called me ‘pretty’ everyday for two months.”

Yachi gasped, “Oh yeah! He did; I remember now!”

“Ugh, this is the worst. I’ve literally only told my mom about us,” Hinata sat up again and reached over to pile food into his bowl. “Yeah, I’m dating Atsumu-san.”

Tsukishima snorted and Tobio frowned deeply, “Break up with him.”

“What? Why?”

“Your children would be so irritating. It would be a disservice to humanity,” Tsukishima stated, immediately catching on.

Hinata stared at them all in complete confusion, “I can’t get pregnant, what are you talking about?”

“So you bottom,” Tobio deduced.

Yachi and Yamaguchi barked out clear laughs and Hinata flushed darkly.

“I switch!”

“Uh-huh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> functioning adults ! i had a lot of fun with this chapter and i'm no longer trying to pull plot points out of my ass so it came out a lot sooner :) the fact that i didn't have to put this on hold for a months at a time is unbelievably refreshing (only took eleven chapters !)  
> -  
> btw: 愛の夢 第1番 変イ長調 is just the japanese translation of liebestraume no. 1 in A-flat major.  
>  **BUT!!** (i've been waiting so long to explain this and i realized i probably wont be able to fit it into the story so here it is):  
> the german name for the first liebestraume is "hohe liebe" which means something like religious or exalted love but the japanese translations is "高貴な愛 (kokina ai)" which means noble love. which the characters mean something like morally just love (literally just noble love) b u t the first two characters can also be used in a "high-class" or "nobility" context. so yes, king love !! it's been like 8024378 years since haikyuu made a king reference but i am holding onto it ! overall: did i waste a lot of time and energy with putting this much thought into the theme song ? yeah, definitely.  
> -  
> anyways, i'm looking at maybe 4-5 more chapters before we reach the finale. naturally, it's always subject to change and i'm trying very hard not to rush the ending so maybe we'll get another ten. i'm undecided.  
> thanks for reading and putting up with this story lol xxxxxx


	12. Intermission (II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what's this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am... so dumb.... i uhmmmmmm realize that schweiden alders is actually based in tokyo but i am too deep into this story so i will accept my title as a clown (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)  
> i hope u can all just ignore that and pretend that i didn't mess that up for a whole series (￣ ﹌ ￣)  
> on the other hand in their olympic interview kageyama literally cites oikawa as his inspiration so yes i am even more invested in them now

Tobio stretched out his arms and cracked his knuckles. He reached up to force his neck to crack too when Hoshiumi piped up.

“Yo, Kageyama, you’ve got a text from a Tsukishima.”

Tobio furrowed his brows and turned his head, the vertebrae popped satisfyingly. He picked up his phone and let the home key read his thumbprint and clicked on the notification with nimble fingers.

_Sender: Tsukishima Kei  
_

_\- Looks like you’ve got a special spectator today  
_

_\- 17.jpg_

“What the fuck?” Tobio murmured as he considered the picture.

“Ooh, ooh, what is it?!” Hoshiumi asked, leaning over to peek at Tobio’s phone.

Tsukishima had been seated in the stands already. His shoulder took up a quarter of the picture but behind him, several rows up sat someone with suspiciously familiar hair and suspiciously familiar glasses. Tobio pushed his fingers out from a pinch to zoom in. As the picture became blurry, the identity of the person became clearer.

Oikawa was there to watch them.

“Holy shit is that San Juan’s Oikawa Tooru?” Hoshiumi gaped. He snatched Tobio’s phone and zoomed in some more, “Holy shit it is! He’s the best setter in South America, what’s he doing here?”

“Oikawa?” Ushijima asked. He perked up much like a Doberman and looked at Tobio curiously. “He’s back from Argentina?”

“He’s been back since last season ended.” Tobio plucked his phone away from Hoshiumi who texted the photo to himself for some reason. “He’s going to college right now; I think he’s waiting for a team to open up.”

Ushijima frowned and his eyebrows shifted ever so slightly closer together, “Oikawa. Oikawa is waiting for a team to open up?”

“Yes, that’s what Iwaizumi-san says.”

His eyes shifted to a corner of the ceiling behind Tobio as he considered. Ushijima’s face twisted into an even more confused look, “Is he okay?”

Tobio placed a hand on the wall for balance and pulled one foot up in a flamingo. He blinked a couple of times, “Why wouldn’t he be?”

“It seems a bit out of character for him to be taking a break. He’s always been tenacious; I can’t imagine a good reason for him to leave the Argentinian league. Last I heard he was trying to get his citizenship over there to compete in the upcoming Olympics,” Ushijima explained. He lifted his hand to pinch his chin between his thumb and index knuckle, “He’s never been one to, pardon the language, half-ass something and at least regarding volleyball… Perhaps his knee is injured? I recall he received a rather serious knee injury in the Spring tournament of our first year of high school. Against Wakunan I believe.”

Tobio lowered his foot and felt something unpleasant root in his stomach, “I… I didn’t think about that…”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Hoshiumi butted in, “You’re saying you guys know Oikawa Tooru?”

“Oikawa is from Miyagi,” Heiwajima pointed out. “And he’s the same age as Ushijima, it’s a given they know each other.”

“Tobio went to middle school with Oikawa, no? We have talked this topic before, yes?” Romero asked. His large eyes looked curiously over to Tobio who broke eye contact as quickly as it came.

“He did,” Ushijima answered for him. “And we have.”

“Huh?! Where was I?!” Hoshiumi asked in distress.

“Not there apparently,” Hirugami said. “Now, how about we focus on the upcoming game instead?”

After what felt like a quick game for Tobio and a long game for his muscles, Tobio resigned to loitering around the skirts of the court. He tried to talk with Hinata and the other players for a bit before their respective PR managers glared at them to interact with their fans. He ended up signing various t-shirts, pictures, volleyballs, and foreheads until his pen ran dry. The perfect opportunity to head back to the locker rooms early. He capped the pen feeling only a bit unsatisfied as the last stroke of his autograph showed up faint with skipping ink.

“Sorry about that,” he said quietly and dipped his head apologetically.

“It’s fine,” the young woman said with a confident smile. “Do you mind if I get a picture with you?”

“No,” Tobio said. She smiled wider and handed her phone over with the camera open. He took it and cringed a bit at the poor angle he caught himself with, nervously tucking sweat-damp hair behind his ear. Two hours of intense exercise never did anyone’s appearance good. Awkwardly, he looked to the woman, “Uh, how do you want to…”

She laughed and burrowed into his side, pulling his arm around her shoulders. Keeping his grip loose and impersonal, he lifted his arm and managed his best smile that thankfully didn’t look as terrifying as his normally forced one. Two pictures later he pulled away and handed the woman back her phone.

“Thank you so much!” she said in a friendly manner. She took her phone back and clasped it in her dainty hands, “I look forward to your next game.”

Tobio nodded, “Thank you.”

She bowed and walked away.

“Hey! Hey! Kageyama!” Hinata called. He ran over with a grin and held up a shirt, “Sign this!”

“Why do I have to sign something for you?” Tobio asked.

“So I can sell it, _obviously_ ,” Hinata said. He shoved the shirt into Tobio’s hand along with a blue sharpie. “You’re famous now. Plus, you still owe me money from that time I covered you at Obon in our third year. Also, I saw you sign something for Sugawara-san, like, ten minutes ago!”

“Then you still owe me from when I loaned you money to buy that dumb shirt at nationals,” Tobio pointed out.

Hinata rolled his eyes, “It wasn’t _dumb_ , me and Nishinoya-senpai wanted to match. Don’t act like you didn’t buy one of them either!”

“At least I stopped wearing them as outside clothes and didn’t show it off to our underclassmen.”

“Just sign the shirt! Geez, you’re always so difficult. No wonder you’ve been single for years— Bakayama!”

Tobio uncapped the pen and drew a line across Hinata’s forehead and then used his back to sign the shirt:

_You suck. - Tobio Kageyama to the shortest idiot he knows_

“That’s permanent you know! And you better not write anything rude!”

“It’s just personalized.”

“Sure. Anyways, you should come out with us tonight. Atsumu-san and I are gonna get dinner with Sakusa-san, Bokuto, and Hoshiumi-san.” Hinata took the shirt without looking at the signature.

“No, I have to practice.”

“Practice what?” His eyes were wide and as curious as ever and Tobio felt like drawing another line on his face. So, he did.

“Stop that!” Hinata yelped. He swatted Tobio’s hand away with annoyance, but another blue line already ran down his cheek. “You’re the _worst_.”

In the end, Tobio succeeded in avoiding being ambushed by Hinata and Miya on his way out. They had tried to stuff him into the back of one of Hinata’s older brother’s car with Hoshiumi but he wormed his way out and high tailed it to Ushijima who didn’t do anything but blink when Tobio locked himself in the passenger side while Hoshiumi approached. Sakusa looked like he wanted to die as Miya and Bokuto pulled him toward the car.

“They are quite a chaotic team,” Ushijima observed passively.

“Hoshiumi-san fits right in,” Tobio said.

The man in question cackled maniacally as Sakusa was wrestled into the car looking absolutely frazzled.

“Would you like a ride? I was going to visit my mother and you’re not too far out of her direction,” Ushijima asked.

A loud screeching noise was heard and Tobio looked over to see Miya grabbing onto round Sakusa’s waist with his torso halfway out the window. Sakusa used a shoehorn to pry Miya’s hands off of him.

Slowly, Tobio buckled himself and placed his hands in his lap, “If you don’t mind…”

_Sender: Hinata Shouyou_

_\- KUSOYAMA_

_\- 47.jpg_

_\- WHY_

Later that night after settling down in his pajamas, Tobio set out his sheet music to practice.

He sounded atrocious.

Tobio let out a frustrated huff and pulled his hands off the keyboard and scowled at the music in front of him.

_“Make sure you keep practicing,” his mother chimed in after helping him move into his first Tokyo apartment some three years ago. “You don’t want to lose anything.”_

He wished that he listened to her back then even though he needed to focus on the then-upcoming Olympics. When Tanaka called him, Tobio thought that a solid seventeen years of diligent work at the piano would have something over three years of neglect but it turned out he was very wrong. He could read the notes just fine, but they looked far more intimidating than he remembered, and his fingers seemed to think so too.

His left hand wasn’t as dexterous as his right and his touch too heavy with the color all wrong. For someone that played Chopin’s etudes not three years ago, he felt incredibly embarrassed. Under absolutely no circumstances could he play at Tanaka’s wedding like _that_.

Tobio scrubbed a hand over his face and angrily reclipped his bangs out of his face. Pops and cracks filled the air while he bridged his fingers and pushed down. He then flipped the taped-together sheets back so that he looked at the beginning of the passage.

Tanaka and Kiyoko trusted him to provide music for their wedding. In many ways, it would be his gift to them and so they deserved the best he could offer.

Half-assed runs and clumsy chords were not his best.

He wrinkled his nose and glared at the sheet music, resolutely setting his hands back on the keys.

Tobio rubbed his hands together to spread the lotion evenly. His nails shone healthily with their fresh coat of clear nail polish and he felt good about how neatly they’d been filed. He took a moment to inspect his hands for calluses by smoothing his fingertips together and over his palms.

He was currently in Hokkaido for a game staying at a hotel. The sun long went down, and the lights of the city faintly lit up the ceiling of his hotel room and the bathroom light fell onto the floor. He laid the sheet music on the desk in front of him and his Bluetooth earbuds were playing a small playlist of the pieces he would play at Tanaka’s wedding. His feet were perched on the seat of the swivel tub chair with his knees spread. He mimed the fingering, tapping his fingers against the table imagining it was a keyboard and paused every so often to write in a dynamic or pedal marking he liked from the different renditions.

Three minutes and two seconds into Canon in D, he felt the table vibrate and the music stopped for a second before it resumed on a b-minor chord.

Tobio looked at his screen and lifted a straight black brow.

_Sender: Oikawa Tooru  
_

_\- Hey, Tobio-chan! I saw your match against MSBY. Shouyou really dealt you one, huh?_

He stared at his phone for a moment until the screen went black and the next pianist started playing. Pulling his legs closer to his chest, he set his chin on his knees and wrapped his arms around his legs. For a solid five minutes, Tobio debated on whether he should answer before he gave in and picked up his phone.

_Sender: Tobio-chan  
_

_\- yeah_

A couple of minutes passed and Tobio got another notification.

_Sender: Oikawa Tooru  
_

_\- Shouyou says you’ve got another sponsorship deal coming up_

_Sender: Tobio-chan  
_

_\- yeah  
_

_\- my manager called me about it a couple weeks ago_

_Sender: Oikawa Tooru  
_

_\- Who’s sponsoring you?_

_Sender: Tobio-chan  
_

_\- meiji dairies_

_Sender: Oikawa Tooru  
_

_\- Hahahahahaha  
_

_\- Guess your milk addiction got you somewhere after all lol  
_

_\- Anyways, nice talking to you. I’m going to bed now, gn_

_Sender: Tobio-chan  
_

_\- yeah, good night_

Tobio stared at his phone for a couple more seconds before wrinkling his nose and opening his music app to go back to where his focus got broken.

What a weirdo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if anyone is interested i have a twitter dedicated to fandom things [@umchickwen](https://twitter.com/umchickwen). i don't really do much on it tbh other than post the occasional fanart, but if anyone is interested i thought i would share !  
> that aside, i wanna say thank you all so much for reading ! i didn't realize it until now but this story has over 5k hits ????? and over 300 kudos ??? that's so crazy !! i never expected so many people to be interested in this because i literally just started posting on a whim because i wanted a reason to procrastinate on my homework one day and then people got interested in my dumb story and like two spreadsheets and 30k words later i'm here ! which is just like.... wow, thank you so much i appreciate every one of you, especially those of you who are always leaving comments and encouraging me <3 it really means a whole lot more than you guys know


	13. No. 11: Canon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> does kageyama eat out in every chapter of this fic ? yeah, oops ig ?  
> also yes i changed my name so it matches my twt handle and also bc that name was from 2016 WHEW

Oikawa took Tobio’s response to his texts as an invitation to text frequently. _Daily_.

All the conversations they had stayed brief and felt painfully forced.

_We got good weather today.  
_

_Yeah.  
_

_I saw your friend on campus today.  
_

_Cool.  
_

_Good job on your game.  
_

_Thanks._

Tobio never knew what Oikawa thought— he never quite learned how to read other people— but he did know that Oikawa wanted to say something. Tobio often watched the ellipses go up and down five, six, seven times only to get a vaguely impersonal response and a hasty end to their conversation. Watching them bob and recede made Tobio wrinkle his nose in irritation and scratch at his scalp to keep from typing out a flatly worded statement that would surely sour their relationship.

“You’re not exactly giving him a lot of room to work with,” Yamaguchi said pleasantly with a hesitant but encouraging smile one day over lunch. He handed the phone over to Tsukishima who took one look at it and snickered.

“Ah?” Tobio squinted uncomprehendingly.

Tsukishima handed Tobio back his phone and amusedly thrummed his fingers on his cheek while cleanly picking off some fish from the plate in front of him, “Do you really expect someone who’s not used to dealing with your social ineptitude to know where to go if you only respond with one-word answers and the thumbs up emoji?”

Tobio opened his mouth and then closed it at the same time he sunk into his chair and felt his cheeks burn. He shoved some rice into his mouth, “We used to text…”

“Kageyama,” Yamaguchi interjected lightly, “What Tsukki is trying to say is that Oikawa probably feels off-put because you seem like you don’t want to talk to him.”

“We have nothing to talk about,” Tobio said. “If he has something to say he should just say it.”

“He wants to be more tactful; you should let him. But well,” Yamaguchi looked at Tsukishima and they exchanged some sort of silent conversation via sharing brainwaves for a moment. Yamaguchi pushed his lips from one side to the other until he nodded and turned back. “Maybe you should ask to meet him in person. You’re easier to talk to face-to-face so it might help him.”

Tobio huffed through his teeth, “He should come up with that idea himself.”

“You never change, do you, king?”

“I—”

“Please do not start a scene in the restaurant.”

As if Oikawa somehow read his mind, Tobio received a text that made him choke on his toothpaste at twelve that night.

_Sender: Oikawa Tooru  
_

_\- Would you mind getting dinner with me? I have something I need to talk to you about._

Against his better judgment, Tobio replied with the thumbs-up emoji.

“You’re fucking stupid,” Miwa stated with pure fact. A bear eared spa headband kept her hair out of her face. She used her thin fingers to smear a clay mask onto her T-zone. “Who in the hell would agree to go on a date with their ex? This is a whole new level of sad, _otouto_.”

“ _It’s not a date_ ,” Tobio stressed. When did his closet get so pathetic? Why the hell did he only own sweatshirts? Miwa came over and cleaned out his closet for him and it still looked like shit. He owned so many clothes in high school… “We’re just getting dinner as… as friends?”

“You two weren’t ever friends,” Miwa scoffed. She moved her phone and set it on her shelf, propped up against the wall so she could look at him. “You hated each other and then started dating like some dumbass shoujo manga protagonists—”

“I didn’t hate him. I just felt frustrated around him because I wanted to kiss him and not because I wanted to serve into his face—” He stopped and glared at Miwa before she could remark. She snickered. He sighed, “This was an impulsive decision.” He frowned at a button-up way too small for him, likely bought during high school. Tobio frowned deeper. Why did he even have that shirt?

He threw it back into his closet to be forgotten and kept looking.

“I’ll say,” she said with her jaw pulled far down to open her eyes more. Miwa grabbed something out of her eye and then made a noise, “Ew, this one still has mascara on it.”

“What?” Tobio paused in his search and looked at his phone screen where Miwa held up a mascara coated eyelash on her finger. How she refrained from gouging out her eyeballs with the talons tipping her fingers remained lost on him. He pulled a face, “That’s disgusting.”

Miwa stuck her tongue out and ran a faucet, “Where are you going to eat?”

“Somewhere casual,” Tobio said.

“‘Kay. Show me what I’m working with.”

“Let me get something on.”

Eventually, he propped up his phone on a shelf and took steps back so Miwa could see the full outfit. She glared at him judgmentally, “Tobio, you take that vest off right now and _never_ disrespect me by pairing it with a turtleneck again.”

He groaned and unbuttoned it quickly.

“Why are you even stressing about how you look? If he says something about how you look just tell him to fuck off,” Miwa stated.

“Because he always looks good and it pisses me off.”

Miwa stared at him as if he were stupid. Her eyes narrowed, brows furrowed, nose scrunched, and upper lip curled with incredulity, “I…” She stared at him in disbelief for a moment. Tobio raised an eyebrow and Miwa sighed deeply, “You know what? You can unpack that yourself.”

He paused in pushing around his hangers to turn back to his phone, “Hah?”

“Don’t even worry about it Tobio. Just know that you’re a complete dumbass and you’re _petty_.”

Tobio glared, “Some help, please.”

Miwa rolled her eyes and waved her hand in a blasé fashion, “That’s what I’m doing. The turtleneck is good. Oh, I know. Do you have any skirts?”

“I’m not wearing a skirt.”

“Why not?” She plopped down on a beanbag and inspected her nail polish. “It would be cute and a great opportunity to flaunt your legs. Show him what he can’t have.”

“I don’t even own a skirt,” Tobio said. He pulled out a pair of slacks and tossed it onto his bed.

“You should. You looked great in those photos you did for me,” Miwa said.

Tobio wrinkled his nose, “My legs were uncomfortably cold.”

“But you looked great. I got so many likes on that photo, you should let me take more pictures of you for my portfolio.”

He remained unimpressed with her cheap ploy to use him again, “I hate wearing makeup. It feels gross and you glued my eyes shut the last time.”

Miwa scoffed again, “That’s because you didn’t listen to me and couldn’t relax.”

“ _You glued my eyes shut_.”

“You’re such a little bitch.”

“Am not,” Tobio pouted.

“Prove me wrong by letting me do your makeup,” Miwa told him.

“ _No_ ,” he said.

“Little bitch.” She shook her head disapprovingly and moved on, “Show me your pants and if you pull out something ugly, I’ll hang up and you’ll know.”

Tobio gave her an offensive gesture and Miwa returned his kindness in full.

A couple of minutes later, he stood in front of his phone wearing black jeans. Miwa gave a thumbs up, “Yeah, that’s better. Where’s that button up I sent you?”

“Which one?”

“The blue one with big pockets and that’s probably a little too big. Tuck it into your pants and then wear your black belt and then cuff your jeans since those end at a bad length for you,” Miwa stared down at him with dramatic boredom as Tobio followed her advice. “Do you have any crew socks?”

“Yes.”

“Find a matching color, white would be best. Show off your ankles, you have attractive ones.”

Tobio stopped folding the hem of his pants. Were ankles even capable of being attractive? Miwa continued with her deadpan without further explanation, so he resumed dressing.

“For shoes, wear nice ones. No sneakers. Sneakers are not for greeting your ex.”

“You are just as petty as I am,” Tobio grumbled.

Miwa gave him another rude gesture and hung up.

_Sender: Miwa  
_

_\- Go kill him with how hot you are and if he’s not dead and does something stupid let me know and I’ll kill him myself._

_Sender: Tobio  
_

_\- please don’t kill him._

Whatever demon that possessed Tobio to agree to willingly get dinner with his ex-boyfriend seemed to have exorcised itself by the time Tobio walked into the restaurant and saw Oikawa sitting at a booth by himself. His stomach fluttered less from excitement and possible indigestion than nervousness.

The waitress led him back, obviously wishing to be somewhere else, “Here.”

Oikawa looked up and smiled warmly, “Hey Tobio-chan, glad you made it.”

“Right…” Tobio muttered as he pulled off his jacket and took the seat across. He grabbed the menu from the woman then she left promptly and Tobio sort of wished that she stayed.

He stared at the menu with a crease between his brows and glared at the options. Tobio looked up to see Oikawa staring and he shifted in his seat.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Oikawa assured with a winning smile. “You just look nice.”

“Thanks…” Tobio mumbled. He cracked his index finger with his thumb, “What did you need to talk about?”

“Let’s order first,” Oikawa said with a high tone.

Tobio pursed his lips but didn’t object. He looked down at the menu and considered his options until the waitress came back. Once she took their orders and menus Tobio put his attention back on Oikawa.

“I saw your game last Tuesday; your serves were incredible, I would hate to have to receive them,” Oikawa said with a smile.

“Oh,” Tobio shifted. “Thanks. Yours are still better, and Miya-san’s are still better as well.”

Perfect teeth flashed in a boyish grin and Oikawa looked pleased with himself, “It is my serve, after all; the original is always better.”

Tobio rolled his eyes, “It’s my serve now.”

A small lull in the conversation lapsed before Tobio tried to bring up a new topic, “Ushijima pointed out that it’s weird for you to be waiting for a position to open on a team, is everything alright?”

The faintest of muscles shifted that made Oikawa look exposed. His smile turned wry and he dropped his hand under the table, “Well, he’s right.” Tobio watched his Adam’s apple bob and frowned. Oikawa dropped his head to one side and looked under the table, “I fucked up my knee again. It was stupid. I was just messing around with my teammates and then I ended up taking a bad fall right on it. My trainer, doctor, _and_ coach told me I should take the season off so I couldn’t really argue. I’m doing P.T. and it’s going okay, doesn’t hurt anymore but there’s…”

“Tension,” Tobio finished for him, quiet with loud disappointment in his tone. His chest felt heavy and his frown deepened, “Feels like it’s tight?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“I had a scare with my shoulder after the Olympics,” he absently rubbed his left side at the memory. “I don’t know if you saw, but in the last game, we played one of my teammates jumped into my side during a block. Something happened, I didn’t really understand what the doctors were saying but I guess it just made it… not as good. It’s okay now though but…” He looked at Oikawa and dragged his lip under his lateral incisor and canine, “Are you… gonna go back?”

Oikawa blinked, nodded, “Yeah. I mean, P.T. is going okay, and I’ve been keeping up with training. One year is about a decade in sports but by the time next season comes I should be… back.”

“Back where?” Tobio asked. “Are you staying?”

“In Japan? Probably not. I just decided to come back to Miyagi to take it easy. I missed it a lot, Westerners are… well, they’re different. It’s not a bad difference but I missed Japan,” Oikawa stretched out his leg and their ankles brushed. Tobio jolted and Oikawa instantly looked down while pulling his leg back, “Sorry, habit.”

Tobio furrowed his brows, remembering all the times he sat across from Oikawa when they dated. They used to cross their ankles together under the table and play footsies. It made Tobio feel warm and his cheeks heated over, hopefully not visible under the warm light. He pulled his feet back under his chair and shook his head, “It’s fine.”

Oikawa stared for a minuscule moment and nodded, “Yeah, well, anyways I might go back to Argentina, but I also have an offer for Europe, Spain. It’ll be easier since the languages are more similar, but I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

The tired waitress came back with her tired smile and she set the food down in front of them. She left as quickly as she could.

“What about you?” Oikawa went on. “You were looking to switch teams, right?”

Tobio nodded and swallowed his food, “I have an offer from Italy. I had one from Brazil, but I’ve been there already. I guess I want to go somewhere new.”

“Ah, _Roman Holiday_ huh?”

“What?”

“It’s a movie. I watched it with Iwa-chan’s fiancée when I visited them; has he told you about her? She’s from the States and she likes those old movies. They’re pretty good, you should watch them. I mean, they’re American, but they’re as alright as they could be for the time,” Oikawa rambled. “She likes this one actress, _Aburii_ something? I watched another one of her movies, _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_ , I like the story but it had this one character that was… not that great and— Sorry,” Oikawa laughed and another boyish grin took hold of his embarrassed features, “I didn’t mean to go on. I just— It’s nice, talking to you I mean.”

Tobio couldn’t help the small easing at the corners of his lips. He nodded and looked down at his food, “I don’t mind.”

He looked back up and saw Oikawa smiling like an idiot. He nodded and kept smiling and Tobio found he sort of missed seeing that expression.

“Yeah. This is— yeah,” Oikawa said and finally picked up his chopsticks.

Surprisingly, dinner didn’t have Tobio feeling awkward at all. Oikawa kept up a steady conversation and Tobio offered his thoughts. He hardly noticed his dishes being cleared or the checks coming until the waitress returned their cards. They walked out together, and Oikawa lifted the winter-themed noren for Tobio to go through first.

“Thanks,” he mumbled absently. Tobio walked out and shivered. He then noticed light snow falling from the clear indigo sky.

Oikawa hummed and took a deep breath, “Yeah. I missed winter like this…” He put his hands in the pockets of his coat and looked at Tobio, “Your birthday is next week, what are you gonna do?”

“Probably not much. Twenty-two isn’t anything special,” Tobio said, stuffing his own hands into his jacket. “I think my mom will probably want me to come over, Yachi might plan something.”

“That’s nice,” Oikawa said pleasantly. “What about New Years?”

“My mom asked Miwa and her boyfriend to stay over so I might stay over too.”

Part of Tobio felt weird about it, but he thought that his mother was trying hard to make up for all the time they lost with their father when they were growing up. Even more so now that he would be gone soon.

“I’m spending it back at my parents’ too. My mom is excited that I’m home this year. She’s gonna go all out with the osechi.”

Tobio considered Oikawa’s profile while he stared at the snow falling around them. The whole purpose of their meeting then nipped the back of his brain for attention.

“Oikawa-san, what did you need to talk with me about?”

He watched him blink and the content, pleasant look fell off his face. Oikawa looked at Tobio with an expression almost… nervous. Tobio lifted a thin straight brow and tilted his head.

“I…” he took a moment to collect his thoughts. Oikawa then turned to face him fully, “I would… like to be in your life again.”

Tobio felt hot sickness form at the knob of his spine like coal from a hearth, his face rearranged with confusion, “Huh?”

“I want to be in your life again, Tobio,” Oikawa repeated.

Instantly, Tobio backed up, now noticing how close they stood. He hated that Miwa was right, but his cheeks felt hot in the most dumbfounding manner. He shook his head with visceral disorientation, “I— I don’t— You want—? I don’t… want to get back together. This wasn’t—! Was this a date? I don’t—”

“No! No, no, not at all,” Oikawa said quickly. “This wasn’t a date, definitely not a date.” He stepped closer with his hands reached out for Tobio’s shoulders who flinched away. Oikawa winced and pulled his fingers back into fists, “That didn’t come out right, not like that! I just meant, like, can we talk again? Not— Not romantically, just— friends. I want to be friends again.”

Tobio’s startled heart slowed down. Hesitantly, he said, “We weren’t ever friends. We were… something and then we dated like dumbass shoujo manga characters.”

Abrupt laughter left Oikawa’s throat, “Did Miwa-san say that?”

He relaxed slightly and his face eased out of its tense state, “Yes, actually.”

Neither of them spoke as the snow fell heavier to the cold streets.

Oikawa quietly, hesitantly pressed forward, “Could we be friends now?”

Tobio considered for a moment. He never thought of Oikawa as a friend. A paradigm once, a rival after, a lover some time ago, an ex and an inspiration now. Oikawa always came off as untouchable in his opinion. Even when they dated, Tobio never really felt that he could touch and see Oikawa for all he was.

“I…” Tobio paused and then gave a soft dip of his chin, “Yeah. I think… Yeah.”

A grin so bright the moon couldn’t compare scrubbed the insecurity and nervousness from Oikawa’s facial muscles. His strong shoulders dropped from the relief, “Okay. Thank you.”

“Mn,” Tobio replied.

_Sender: Miwa  
_

_\- How’d it go? You didn’t respond to my rescue text, so I’m confused. Does he need to die?_

_Sender: Tobio  
_

_\- no  
_

_\- we’re friends now_

_Sender: Miwa  
_

_\- Send me his address something’s fishy._

_Sender: Tobio  
_

_\- No._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope u enjoyed this ! i felt that it was finally time to progress since, timeline wise, about six months have passed since oikawa came back. also i hope u all forgive me for making his knee injury a thing again, i didn't want to tag it bc i thought it would b a spoiler (it is now tagged uhhhhh ig its kinda pointless but still) but yes, he hurt his knee but PT is a thing so he'll b okay !!  
> small notes about my canon for this universe:  
> 1) i always headcanoned kageyama's parents to be very work oriented/gone a lot for that reason. at this point kageyama's mother retired but his father still works as a pilot for a korean airline and is often gone but less so than when they were growing up.  
> 2) oikawa really did hurt his knee in an accident. rain, puddle, and an well meaning teammate jumping onto his back unannounced. they're on good terms but his teammate feels really bad.  
> 3) iwaizumi did go to the us for college just like canon but he came back to japan after 4 years because us tuition is much more expensive than japanese. i'm not sure if his fiancée will ever show up but in my head she's mixed vietnamese-white american and her name is erica. they met in college and shared a required class (psych 101 though she majored in film)  
> 4) i have a headcanon that miwa probably sends tobio all sorts of skincare and beauty products she doesn't want (he doesn't really want much other than the moisturizer) and uses that as leverage to get him to take photos for her work portfolio  
> just some side info if u were wondering :)
> 
> you can find me on twitter [@uhmchickwen](https://twitter.com/umchickwen)


	14. No. 12: Serenade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what the year has in store

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the holiday season is coming up very soon so i thought i would get in the spirit a bit <3 (although not really christmas-y because christmas is not celebrated in japan the same way it is in the west)  
> also the end notes will explain a lot in case you feel as though you don't understand what's going on in this chapter, i tried to be thorough just in case because i wasn't sure how widely known japanese holiday traditions are since i don't see them talked about often or at all really in the english-fandoms so i just assumed ! by chance you still have questions, please ask ! <3  
> -  
> you can find me on twitter [@umchickwen](https://twitter.com/umchickwen)

On the last day of the year, Tobio went to his parents’ house after cleaning his apartment top to bottom. He and his sister helped his mother prepare the osechi for the first three days of the year. Many hours of cutting carrots into plum blossom shapes, boiling horrible smelling things, and hurrying into stores to get bottom-of-the-bin, last minute ingredients.

The day went by in a blur and by the time he forced down the toshikoshi soba his stomach felt ready to burst. He kept burping every few minutes, tasting the various foods he ate and cringed each time. Miwa and her boyfriend were the first to turn in, going up to her old room and promptly passing out. Then their mom who fell asleep on the couch with a glass of beer teetering dangerously in her lap. Tobio watched his father make a fond expression before taking the cup and carrying her up the stairs. While sitting alone in the living room, a familiar, now liminal sense of loneliness creeped around him. He wrinkled his nose and curbed the sensation by returning to the kitchen to start the broth for tomorrow’s ozoni.

Standing over the stove, he slipped deeper into old feelings. Back at the tail end of middle school and the beginning of high school cooking alone in the kitchen at night. When his mother still took frequent business trips to Sendai, his sister in Tokyo, and his father away for months at a time. Just him in a desolate house with only two lights on.

He poked at the soaking dried shiitake mushrooms while the pot boiled next to him— bonito flakes and kombu tsuyu. After he felt the dashi was finished, he shut off the stove and pulled the pot off the burner.

“We’ll miss you, next year,” a deep, rumbling voice said behind him.

Tobio jolted and sucked in a breath when the liquid sloshed dangerously. He turned his head briefly and found his dad, tall and gangly and older than he remembered. His tired black eyes and thinning, greying black hair looked worn.

“I’ll call,” Tobio said. He set the pot down on a straw trivet and wiped his hands on his sweats.

He never figured out to talk to his dad.

“We’ll still miss you,” he hummed.

Tobio nodded and replied out of courtesy, “I’ll miss you all too.”

His father frowned and his lips pursed together, harshening the frown lines around his thin, wide mouth. He stood still for a moment and then set a thin, knob-knuckled hand on Tobio’s head.

“You turned into a good man, Tobio,” he said. “I’m glad.”

The meaning of his words failed to reach Tobio who just nodded, staring up unsure.

“... Sorry…” he said, quieter as he pulled his hand off Tobio’s head. An odd moment passed where he stiffened up into the rigid, awkward man Tobio always knew and haltingly patted Tobio’s shoulder. He confirmed, “Sorry.”

Tobio nodded, “It’s okay.”

His father nodded and turned to the cupboard to get some water while Tobio went upstairs.

At three-eighteen, Tobio lay down in his old bed and idly checked his phone one last time. He saw messages from his teammates— current and old— coach, and friends. He opened the chat between him, Yachi, and the others.

_Sender: Hinata Shouyou  
_

_\- Ake-ome-koto-yoro!_

_Sender: Yachi Hitoka  
_

_\- Happy new year! Please take care of me again! :)_

Tobio typed out a short message and then shut off his phone. He pulled the blanket high over his nose bridge and turned his face into the pillow.

-

_He’s at a shrine. Bira-bira, bira-bira. Something bounces against his face and distracts him for a second and then he holds a mallet with someone’s hand over his. Together they break a wooden circle, and the pieces fall into the alcohol, splashing it slightly on his stripped hakama. A band sits warmly on his ring finger.  
_

_“Tobio.”_

-

At ten the next day, Tobio woke up painfully tired, not remembering his first dream of the year, and debated going back to sleep when someone knocked on the door.

“Tobio? Tobi-tan? Are you up?” his mom called.

“I’m up,” he called, voice gravely and dry.

“Okay, we’re gonna eat the ozoni now. Thanks for starting the dashi. Come down soon.”

“Yeah.”

Staring holes into his plain white ceiling, Tobio allowed his consciousness to slowly re-enter and some five minutes later got out of bed. After splashing water on his face and scrubbing his teeth and tongue, he descended the stairs where his mother handed him a bowl of steaming broth and a cup of otoso. He dipped his head and wished her a “happy new year” which started a series of exchanges before they were finally ready to eat.

“Hold on, let’s get the vacuum ready,” Miwa tittered with a teasing grin directed at their father.

The man frowned deeply, “I’m not that old.”

“Maybe we should have it just in case,” their mom added with faux thoughtfulness.

“Let’s just eat,” he frowned, but took his first bite with a mushroom instead of the mochi.

Tobio listened to Miwa, her boyfriend, and his mother’s slow, pleasant conversation. He drained his bowl first only for his mother to reflexively take it and fill it with more.

“Are you planning to go to the shrine today?” Miwa asked, taking her and Tobio’s bowl to the sink before their mother could fill them again.

“Oh, no. I think we’ll go next week, you know how your father is with crowds,” the woman hummed.

Politely, Sachirou— Miwa’s boyfriend— dipped his head, “We’ll be going soon then. I’d like to visit my family tonight.”

“Of course, we wouldn’t want to keep you here,” she smiled sincerely. “You should bring some food, just in case. We made a lot so there’s plenty to take home. Tobio, you take some too! Mi-chan, I’ll pack you extra so you can give it to Aragaki-san.”

Before anyone could say anything, she hurried to the kitchen and started cracking open containers to fill.

By mid-afternoon, Tobio threw his body onto his own sofa and breathed out. His heart pounded in his ears from the sudden loss of oxygen before mellowing out. He pulled his phone out and checked for more messages. He replied to the Adlers group chat with his new year wishes and then, upon direction from his PR manager, made a new year statement on his twitter. To which a screenshot of his post made it into the Adlers chat, making fun of him for how impersonal he came off before Romero chimed in, proud of the digital nengajo his son showed him how to make.

Another notification blipped across his screen and he looked at it for a second before opening it.

_Sender: Oikawa Tooru  
_

_\- 121.jpg_

_\- Did your manager make you tweet this?_

Tobio frowned and rolled onto his stomach and tucked a pillow under his chin.

_Sender: Tobio-chan  
_

_\- yes  
_

_\- you follow me on twitter ?_

_Sender: Oikawa Tooru  
_

_\- No._

_Sender: Tobio-chan  
_

_\- but it says you’re following me in the screenshot ?_

_Sender: Oikawa Tooru  
_

_\- That was sarcasm Tobio-chan lol why are you even asking if you can see?  
_

_\- Ok anyways, have you already done your hatsumode?_

_Sender: Tobio-chan  
_

_\- no_

_Sender: Oikawa Tooru  
_

_\- So difficult to text, Tobio-chan! Put in more effort!_

He rolled his eyes and reached for his tea bottle.

_Sender: Tobio-chan  
_

_\- i’m replying though ?_

_Sender: Oikawa Tooru  
_

_\- Right  
_

_\- I’m planning to do my hatsumode on Thursday, do you want to come with me?_

_Sender: Tobio-chan  
_

_\- sure_

Tobio walked through the loose crowd of people when a particularly cold gust of wind snaked through the opening in his coat and coiled around his body. He shivered and tugged his coat closed, stuffing his hands into the deep pockets.

January in Miyagi made Tobio suffer. The holiday always burnt him out and tried his introverted tendencies with excessive socializing when he preferred to stay at home wrapped up in a blanket, interacting in moderation. Not to mention Tobio hated the cold. The joints in his fingers ached, his skin dried out if he forgot the extra moisturizer, and he swore his nails became brittle.

He sunk further into his scarf and hurried over to the man leaning against a rail, calling out:

“Oikawa-san.”

Dropping the hand holding up his phone against a thigh, Oikawa smiled at him charmingly, “Tobio-chan, you made it!”

“I said I would come,” he responded, pulling his scarf almost over his nose bridge.

Oikawa snickered and playfully tugged at the end of Tobio’s blue scarf, “You’re like a turtle.”

“It’s cold,” Tobio attested, wrinkling his nose. “Can we hurry?”

“Sure thing. C’mon,” Oikawa said and started up to the shrine. “It’s pretty mellow today.”

“Mm,” he agreed, watching a woman fix her child’s traditional clothes to keep him warm. “I spent new year in Tokyo once with Miwa after my grandpa died. We tried to go to the shrine but there were so many people we decided not to.”

“I’ve only ever gone to this one,” Oikawa said. “I always wanted to visit the ones in the cities but not during this time of year.” They reached the top of the stairs and he sighed deeply, a relaxed smile on his face. “I missed this. They don’t celebrate new year’s like this in Argentina. Christmas is much bigger there; my teammates took me to mass with them. It’s interesting.”

Tobio took off his gloves to rinse his hands and mouth, “I didn’t consider that new year would be different.”

Oikawa swished water in his mouth and rinsed his left hand again, “It’s much different. I like it though; they get very festive for Christmas, it’s more family oriented than lovers.”

They walked through the last torii gate and went through the process of praying and collecting their omikuji and omamori.

“Which one did you get?” Oikawa asked, looking over Tobio’s shoulder.

“Half-blessing,” he read off, “The person you are waiting for will come. Going forth will bring opportunity.” He turned and looked at Oikawa’s, “What about you?”

“Great-blessing,” Oikawa grinned. “You will find what you’re looking for. Be proactive.”

Tobio nodded, “Are you going to tie yours?”

“No, I think I’ll keep it,” he hummed reverently. “You can tie yours and then we can go. Is there anything else you wanted to do?”

“Get inside,” Tobio pulled his scarf tighter around his neck again and burrowed into it.

Oikawa cracked a smile, “Did you drive here?”

“Yeah,” Tobio muttered, narrowly avoiding being tackled by an eager kid running back to show his fortune.

“I never expected you to learn how. You don’t like trains or buses?”

“They make me feel uncomfortable,” he explained. “It’s… usually cramped and I don’t like sitting next to people I don’t know. Ushijima-san taught me. I guess he learned when he visited his father.”

“How is Ushiwaka?” Tobio gave him a suspicious look and Oikawa rolled his eyes, “I can ask about him.”

“You hate him,” Tobio pointed out.

“I don’t _hate_ him, he just— his Ushiwaka-ing gets on my nerves sometimes,” Oikawa sniffed.

Tobio raised an eyebrow as he tied the paper on the line, “Ushiwaka-ing?”

“You know when he… He makes suggestions sometimes that don’t consider people’s feelings. I don’t like that about him,” he huffed.

“I guess I get that…” Tobio said. “He means well.”

“I know but just because you mean well doesn’t mean you’re doing the right thing.”

He turned his head. Oikawa looked somewhat reverent but didn’t otherwise explain. They made eye contact and Oikawa rolled his shoulders, “Anyways, how is he?”

“He’s okay,” Tobio shrugged. “I think he’s also getting offers from other places. He mentioned going to Poland.”

They kept to the side as they descended the sando path. They passed more people than before, apparently narrowly missing a rush hour.

“How was your birthday?” Oikawa asked.

“It was okay. I went out for drinks with Yachi, Tsukishima, and Yamaguchi. Hinata came up from Osaka too. He’s spending New Years with his family.”

They reached the bottom of the path. Tobio took a breath of sharp, cold air and shuddered.

“Tobio.”

He blinked and turned around. Oikawa stopped and dug through his pocket and pulled out a small box held closed by a winter decorated wrapping cloth. He smiled and held it out, “Here. It’s late but I wanted to get you something.”

“You didn’t have to,” Tobio said reflexively.

“I wanted to, take it,” Oikawa insisted.

Pulling his hand out of the depths of his coat, Tobio reached for the box awkwardly, “Uhm, thank you.”

“Open it.”

He tugged at the knot until it fell open, exposing a plain wooden box. He slid the top off and pulled out a small gold painted maneki cat smiling up at him.

“My mom bought me one before I moved, I thought you could use some luck since you’re going overseas,” Oikawa said.

Tobio ran a thumb over the cat’s nose and felt his lips twitch just so. He placed it back inside the box and tied the cloth back over it, “Thank you.”

“No problem.” A large hand settled on his head and ruffled his hair. Oikawa smiled, “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks… This year, please take care of me,” Tobio bowed slightly.

Oikawa’s mouth parted for a moment until he nodded emphatically, “Please take care of me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> List of things mentioned/referenced:  
>  _Ake-ome-koto-yoro_ \- the traditional NY greeting in japanese is “akemashite omedetou gozaimasu, kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu” (happy new year, please take care of me again this year) but it’s quite a mouthful so this is one way to shorten it but it’s very informal so use it sparingly!  
>  _*building off of that, the last thing Tobio says in japanese would be “kotoshi, yoroshiku onegaishimasu” as opposed to “kotoshi mo…”_ “yoroshiku onegaishimasu” is generally used as a greeting of sorts when being introduced (+ other instances).  
>  _Omisoka_ \- end of the year holiday that involves cleaning and completing other chores/responsibilities for a clean start. Many people will host a party or have friends and family over to celebrate. Some will visit a shrine as well.  
>  _Osechi_ \- traditional japanese new year’s food eaten essentially for luck, they are typically presented in ornate bento boxes  
>  _Nejiri ume/nishime_ \- nejiri ume is a carrot cut into the shape of a plum blossom and nishime is a type of simmered dish, it is eaten year round but also viewed as a NY specific food  
>  _Konnyaku_ \- a jelly made from a yam that is often present in nishime (it smells horrible so you have to boil it before cooking. Fun fact: your body literally can’t digest it thus they make diet noodles out of it)  
>  _Toshikoshi soba_ \- lit. year crossing soba. Noodles eaten between 11 pm and 12 am to cross into the NY. Some people also eat toshikoshi udon but both are to be eaten without biting the noodles so you don’t cut your luck/life short.  
>  _Ozoni_ \- mochi soup. Mochi is considered an auspicious food (look up “kagami mochi” for more information). Each household has a different recipe but they usually can be generalized by region. My family isn’t from Miyagi but according to the research I did they usually include shiitake mushrooms.  
>  _Dashi_ \- broth  
>  _Hatsuyume_ \- first dream of the year. They say that your first dream of the year will come true.  
>  _Otoso_ \- NY sake, it often is served in a series of 3 cups that get progressively bigger and each person takes a sip and then passes it around. i believe it's only western japan that drinks traditional otoso for ny now but most of japan still drinks a mock-form of it.  
>  _Vacuum_ \- sort of morbid, but there are often a lot of deaths related to choking on mochi around NY. Bc of this my family always has a vacuum plugged in and ready to be used (can be used to suck out food when someone is choking, please be careful and do not try at home unless confident)  
>  _Nengajo_ \- NY post cards  
>  _Hatsumode_ \- first shrine visit of the year, usually done between the 1st and 3rd of January but in busier areas people tend to go later. (Popular shrines can see up to several million within the first couple weeks of January)  
>  _Omikuji_ \- NY fortune, bad luck ones are posted to a tree to cancel it out  
>  _Omamori_ \- good luck charm for the year, shrines will burn your old one if you bring it to them

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me at [ @umchickwen ](https://twitter.com/umchickwen) !


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